We'll Avenge It
by RoyalVictory
Summary: Avengers AU. Spitfire, Supermatian. Rated T for violence and language.
1. Part I

**It was supposed to only be a oneshot but then words happened. It's not my fault, I swear. You can blame this largely on the Glitch Mob's cover of Seven Nation Army.**

**-RoyalVictory**

* * *

The planet is unbelievably dark. It's the kind of dark that swallows you whole, the kind that reaches with long, bony fingers into even the brightest places in your mind. It suffocates you with its blackness. The dark is weighted and every pound demands to be felt. It makes your feet drag, your back hunch. Your chest caves into itself and your head hides between your shoulders. Your knees shake.

There is no light; only black outlines and sections of black that's darker than others, shadows that persevere in the darkness. Most would find the place terrifying. Most would lose their sanity in the dark and the soft clicking language of the native species in minutes. The fear would overtake them, and they would crack. But those who have already lost their minds can't go any further, and they love this place. This terrifying, black place.

Klarion loves it immensely.

He moves up the stairs with surprising grace for someone who cannot see, and relies on his other senses instead: the sound of the quiet clicking as the aliens on either side of him communicate, the breeze of frigid air that hits him when there are gaps between aliens, the amount of steps that tell him just how high he is climbing on the already suspended platform. He makes it to the top of the platform, and he kneels, knowing just how important that latter part is. Finally, he sees the light.

The alien carefully places the staff he has pined for and searched for for years in his waiting hands. The staff is heavier than he would've expected, and the light at the end is the brightest he's ever seen.

"Don't forget your promise," the voice before him says. The voice is deep, like the dark that surrounds them, slightly accented with a _click_ on the end of 'don't'.

Klarion stands and turns. He holds the staff upright and holds his head higher, his smile resembling that which Medusa would wear before her victims turned to stone. He carefully descends the steps and imagines Earth's reckoning with glee.

He is a Lord of Chaos and he is about to live up to his title.

...

Dick doesn't like this.

But of course he doesn't show it, he knows better. His posture is relaxed as he carelessly paces the walkway above the scientists, whom buzz and stride with an extra jump in their step. Dick toys with one of his escrima sticks in his left hand, spinning it between his fingers in a way that looks absent minded, but that's all for show too. He's ready to leap from the platform and slam it into an enemy with less than a moment's notice, ready to attack without a second thought in order to complete what he's been hired to do. Which may be a bit dark, but that's the life he's chosen.

Wally is the only one in the entire building who can tell what Dick is thinking. Dick knows it too because Kid Flash catches his eye from across the room, leaned up against the wall on the floor, and gives him an easy smile, which Nightwing returns without a hitch. That doesn't mean Dick can't tell that Wally is just as ready to spring into action as he is. He knows that his best friend has a bad feeling about all this too. It doesn't help the queasy feeling in Dick's stomach. Especially if _both_ of them are nervous; Wally understands to the fullest extent at what's going on while Dick doesn't.

Wally tried to explain what the busy scientists were doing earlier but Dick admits he still doesn't entirely understand. Wally's the one who majored in all the sciences and studied alien technology for a year. Wally's the one who talked with Adam Strange and his assistants on the way there, using scientific terms that Dick didn't even knew existed. (Dick's more of a math guy himself.)

What he does understand is that they are going to open some kind of door. They don't know where it will open to, and they don't know who will be waiting on the other side. Basically, no one knows anything about what will happen except that this door will (read: should) open. No one else seems to realize that a doorway can be walked through from either side, either.

Dick isn't against it because he doesn't completely understand what's even going on; he doesn't like it because it all seems incredibly shady. There was the whole factor of all of this being done by night, in a remote research lab in the middle of the desert, plus the tanks that are parked hidden outside, the same ones Dick pretends he doesn't know about. The whole thing seems especially bent since S.H.I.E.L.D called in two of the most powerful independent vigilantes the world has to offer because all of their best agents are on top secret, higher prioritized missions. Kid Flash and Nightwing are often asked to supervise for jobs like this, but aren't official, full time agents like their friend Artemis. All that means is they don't get paid for their services and they never get much information, but they work a whole lot less, which is something.

Dick paces across the walkway again and watches Dr. Strange closely as he fiddles with some kind of large device that Dick doesn't even have a name for. It looks like the different parts have been found at the scrap yard that have been welded together. (Knowing Adam Strange, there is a very good chance they could've been.) At the end is a cyan coloured cube, a few shades lighter than the finger stripes that run down the arms of Dick's uniform, and it seems to be the key of this whole operation. Dick's pretty sure it's the thing allowing them to open this intergalactic door in the first place.

"The Director's here," Wally's voice says through the com in his ear. Dick reaches up and presses two fingers to the com.

"I'll go receive them. Keep an eye on things."

"Yes sir," Wally responds cheekily as Dick leaps off the walkway and grabs a pole lodged in the wall, swings around it once, then lands silently on his feet. Without pause, he continues out of the room. "Show off," Wally says in his ear and Dick grins.

Dick passes two armed guards and goes into the long titanium hallway that will take him outside. The hallway is narrow, built for security, with two armed guards at each end and metal grates that drop and block off both exits, held shut with magnets. Even if someone does get through, there's no way they're getting out. Not through that hallway, anyways.

Dick strolls briskly out into the hangar, then out the door and into the crisp night air. It'd be a calm night, if not for the sound of propellers twirling and the wind created by them.

The helicopter is just landing when Dick gets outside. The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D steps out the second she gets the all clear. Her long black hair gathered in a tight ponytail and she's wearing her usual leather jacket. Her left eye is covered by an eye patch, with scars that snake out from beneath.

Her right hand and deputy director, Bruce Wayne, follows behind, wearing his customary blue jumpsuit and scowl. He holds a clipboard, either to be productive on the flight or to just look like he had been. Knowing Bruce, Dick is sure it's the former.

"Director Prince," Dick says in greeting, "Deputy Director Wayne." Usually, he wouldn't be so formal with anyone but he has a great deal of respect for both. "This way," he says and both follow him.

"How's Strange progressing?" Prince asks, all business, as they file single file down the titanium hallway.

"Honestly? Not sure. He says it should be up and running by oh-one-hundred. Which is in," Dick checks his watch, "Five minutes. Nice timing as always, director," he can't help but tack on the last bit. Prince doesn't seem to care for his comment and just side eyes him briefly once they exit the hall.

Prince and Wayne both approach Dr. Strange while Nightwing swings himself back up to the walkway. Prince and Strange step aside to talk for a moment and Dick does another sweep of the room. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he goes back to his casual stance.

He relaxes just a second too soon. The lights, which are large and industrial bulbs without covers, fade in and out. Dick stands up straight. Strange goes back to his machine quickly, and starts typing. There is only time for Kid Flash and Nightwing to exchange a look across the room before the lights disappear again, taking a moment to go back on.

"Strange, what's happening?" Prince demands calmly, hand on the weapon at her hip.

"I- I don't know," Strange says as he scrolls through whatever is on the screen of his machine. "It turned on by itself. It looks like the generator isn't working fast enough for it. It's stealing power from the lights." The lights fade out and come back slower and dimmer this time. Dick takes that as his cue to jump off the walkway.

Wally joins him at the bottom and they approach the device together, stopping a foot behind Prince and Strange.

The blue light from the device blinks, then shoots out in a beam at the wall, becoming brighter and stronger until Dick has to look away. He senses Wally and Prince on either side of him do the same. Dick squeezes his eyelids so they are only a few millimetres apart and shades his eyes, slowly turning to look where the beam is hitting.

It's like the wall blinks; Dick doesn't know how else to explain it. A burst of air suddenly pushes past and it knocks everyone and everything down except for Director Prince, who uses her arm to shield her face and bends her knees to stay standing. Papers fly across the room, hitting walls and people alike, and Dick has to swat a few away before they hit himself on his spot on the floor.

There's another blink. The wind dies down slightly and people are now able to make it to their feet and stay there, which is what Dick does. He pulls out his escrima sticks and sees Wally pull down his goggles next to him, turning the lens and probably blocking out most of the light.

The glow on the wall becomes brighter and brighter until it shrinks down to a circle roughly seven feet tall and just as wide. The wind, which has died to a draft, is gaining strength again except this time, it is sucking _in. _A figure steps out where the light is, with hair shaped like horns and a smile that makes even Dick's skin crawl. The lights and the wind die down and Dick can get a good look at the man. He's wearing a long red cape and holding a tall staff that has a light at the end that resembles the cube's. A cat, yellow and black with deep red eyes, tangles itself in his feet and hisses. Dick narrows his eyes and readies his weapons. He senses the guards are doing the same behind him, and hears the cocking of their guns.

Director Prince stands straight. Her hand is on her gun and she has opened the snap that holds it in, but she does not draw it, "My name is Diana Prince and you have just landed on planet earth without authorization. I demand you identify yourself and lower your weapon," her voice is calm, like the sea before a storm, and intimidating, like the fog that clings to the tips of mountains, ominous and threatening.

The man looks at her curiously before he smiles. "Of course," he says. He lowers his weapon so that it is parallel to the ground and points the tip straight at her. Prince doesn't flinch.

"All the way, sir," she says. The man smiles, and there is the small twitch in his hand. It's all Prince needs to dive out of the way of the bright blue beam that flies at her and for Dick and Wally to attack.

Wally is three feet away when the man waves his staff and he flies backwards, then hits the ground and rolls, hitting the wall. The man turns in time to catch both of Dick's escrima sticks on his staff half a second after. He shoves it back with so much force that Dick flies back and hits the wall too. Something holds him there, so that he can't move his legs or arms, but not for a lack of trying. It's like someone has taken metal and bent it around his limbs, then stuck him to the wall and welded the wall and binds together. He sees Wayne and Prince meet similar fates a few feet down the wall from him, guns dropping to the ground.

He struggles against the invisible bonds that rip his costume and burn when they press against his skin, but he doesn't give up, especially when he sees Kid Flash recover and charge the man while the guards open fire. Wally is about to make contact with him, knock him clean off his feet as Dick has seen him do countless times before, but the man somehow stops him. All he does is press a single finger to his forehead and Wally lets out a yell before crashing to the floor. It's a pained yell, one that makes Dick's blood run cold.

"Hey!" Dick yells, but it does nothing to stop the man, who swipes his staff again. All the bullets drop mid air, as do all the bullets from inside the guard's guns, spilling out onto the floor. Dick struggles a little harder.

"KF GET UP!" Dick yells and to his surprise, Kid Flash listens. Except it's not Wally.

Dick first hint is how he stands, straight like a pole has been rammed up his spine. Wally looks at the man, who smiles. Then, Wally darts off and knocks over any approaching guard, slamming them to walls and the floor with more ferocity that Dick has ever seen out of Wally.

"KF, SNAP OUT OF IT!" Dick yells as he struggles. Wally doesn't so much as look at him. He's too busy stomping towards Strange, who has fallen in his haste to get away. Wally grabs the back of his shirt as he struggles and drags him back to the man with the staff. The man grabs Strange's shoulder, and the scientist goes limp.

"WALLY!" Dick yells, and finally the speedster looks over. What Dick sees makes him feel as if he's been plunged into the Arctic ocean. Wally eyes look like ice, pale and scratched and frigid, nothing like the green that he's used to seeing.

Kid Flash looks away without a second glance and goes to the machine. He removes the cube, then returns to the man. All of the guards are out of commission and there's nothing left to prevent him from doing so.

"Who are you!?" Prince demands, voice like thunder. The man looks at her slowly and lets out a high pitched cackle.

"I'm Klarion," he says, "Lord of Chaos." Wally grabs Strange's collar again and drags him back so he can get Klarion's shoulder with his other hand. Red flames appear from the ground and cover their bodies until the flames disappear completely, taking Wally, Strange, and Klarion with them. The moment the flames die, so do whatever bonds that are holding them against the wall, and all the guards, Prince, Wayne, and Dick drop to the floor. Dick looks up and beats a fist against the ground in frustration.

Prince orders an immediate evacuation once all the injured crew are escorted out, and the uninjured clear the place. If Klarion comes back, he's not getting anything, or anyone, else. Prince doesn't want to risk anymore lives before they are truly prepared for him.

Instead of helping, Dick rushes to search for clues. He's not called the wonder detective for nothing. But after fifteen minutes, the place is swept and Prince is ordering everyone out immediately. Dick doesn't find anything except for a picture, one he knows belongs to Wally. It probably fell out of his wrist compartment while he was fighting. It's old, bent and worn at the edges, and is of Artemis, Wally, and Dick, all in uniform. They couldn't have been older than fifteen or sixteen when it was taken. Dick's in the middle with his arms around the other two; Artemis is mid eye roll at something Wally said, while Wally's sticking his tongue out at her. Dick is smiling. Nightwing stuffs it in his pocket.

Dick knows that Artemis will be out for blood once she hears one of Wally's kidnapping. He just hopes it won't be his. Or Wally's.

...

Artemis is called to report for duty at two a.m. sharp, which isn't an irregular occurrence. She's used to being called and dispatched out at all hours of the day, or night, and doesn't blink an eye when her buzzer goes off. Artemis dresses quickly and leaves her sleeping cell in minutes, meeting Director Prince in the council room on the Helicarrier.

It's been three days since the attack involving the tesseract, something she only knows the name of because of her security clearance (which is level seven, but if anyone but another level seven asks, she's a level six).

Director Prince doesn't look at her when she comes in, but she must know of her entry because she speaks, "Take the files on the table. I want you to locate and retrieve all of those people and I want them on my Helicarrier ASAP."

Artemis' eyes glance over the names on the files and she recognizes them all. She looks back up, "Does this have to do with Klarion?" Artemis had met the infamous Lord of Chaos just days before in Rome. Her bones are still sore from the fight, and her joints creak when she doesn't ice them at night.

The only thing she hadn't expected was the hair do. And the creepy cat. (Artemis hates cats). Oh, and the height of his power. She was sent in on a surveillance mission and barely escaped with her life. And that really pisses Artemis off.

"Yes," Prince answers. She turns around to look at her top agent finally and Artemis sees bags under her eyes, "I'm reactivating the Avenger's Initiative."

Artemis takes the next helicopter out.

...

Her first stop is to Gotham, to an old friend.

Artemis met him years ago while on a job; she used to be an assassin, until she was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D when she was fifteen. By recruited, she means she was kidnapped by said friend and brought to S.H.I.E.L.D's hideout, where they explained to her that they knew of her rebellions. They knew that she was a thief and killer by day and a heroine by night. They had the evidence of her arrows in multiple places; once, she had even saved one of those bright and shining heroes whose face regularly zipped across television screens. Artemis was offered a rabbit hole and she jumped down it the second she could, shedding her identity of Tigress and adopting a more honest one: Artemis. And she couldn't have done it without this old friend.

As Artemis climbs the rusted ladder, she reflects that she's glad she wore her uniform. She would've been screwed without it. It's not like a civilian can go jumping rooftops without being noticed.

Artemis finds him on the rooftop, the rooftop of Wayne Tower no less (he's never been very discreet), and he's just sitting there, like he's been waiting for her. Which, knowing Dick, he probably has, even though her mission is top secret and _she_ didn't even know about it until two hours ago.

The identity of Nightwing is still new and strange to her, but she guesses it was time Dick traded in the baby Robin costume for something a bit more grown up, like Artemis has herself. Her new costume is a bit different from the old one. It's more practical for one; she designed her first when she was fifteen and really, she wasn't thinking about practicality when she did. Her suit still looks the same, it's just that it's one piece now and covers her abdomen, which is handy for sneaking in the dark. Her wrist guards are longer and go up to her elbow; they're made of a harder, lighter material designed by S.H.I.E.L.D especially for her. The colours are a few shades darker and she wears a domino mask instead of a cowl. There's a hood too, but she rarely uses it.

Dick doesn't have as much armor as she does. It's just that Nightwing is more prone to jump off of buildings than Artemis and armor isn't practical when flying without wings.

"Good evening," Dick says. He finally turns and looks at her, "Nice haircut," he says with a smile. Artemis returns it, though it's more than the quirk of her lips than anything. Dick's always been like that: a perfect gentleman. He would notice that her hair was at her waist the last time she saw him, and now it's just past her shoulders beneath her hood. But she isn't here to get compliments. She's working.

(It still puzzles Artemis that after fifteen years of being raised as an assassin plus an extra eight of spying, she still can't sneak up on him. But it's not the time to dwell because she has a job to do.)

"You know why I'm here," Artemis says, "Are you in or not?"

Dick agrees easily. He says he's already thought about it, which just confirms her theory about him knowing before her. She doesn't understand how he gets his information so fast. He doesn't even legally work for S.H.I.E.L.D, but Artemis guesses that having his father as the deputy director could help, not to mention he's the best hacker in the world.

...

Her next stop is to Vegas, and it's too hot for her liking, especially since she changed into a pant suit for this meeting and she isn't in her more ventilated uniform.

Artemis knows her target is the most powerful magician the world has ever seen, even outweighing her late father. Of course Artemis is intimidated. But there's no way she's about to let that show.

The black haired magician, who goes by Zatanna, is in Vegas for her travelling show. It's an unusual name and makes Artemis wonder if that's her given name or just a stage and/or vigilante one, before she realizes the irony in such a thought.

It all takes a little convincing (Zatanna doesn't want to 'restrict' herself to the team) but charm and persuasion is included in Artemis' training. Besides, all Artemis has to do is drop the name of a certain wonder detective, and mention what happened to Kid Flash, who she's apparently teamed up with before (Artemis _is not _jealous). That's all it takes and Zatanna leaves to go pack.

...

The next stop is another old friend. Artemis hates the water but she'll make an exception for him and accepts the mini submarine that's offered to her. It takes hours of white knuckles gripped around the arms of her chair before she finally arrives but it's almost worse when she does. Artemis shoves the fear back down her throat and pops in a rebreather, then joins the King of Atlantis for dinner at his table. She tries not to let herself think about all the tons of water above her, just threatening to crush her bone by bone.

Artemis has more than her fair share of near-drowning experiences that not only include _actually _almost drowning, but forms of torture like water boarding too (it lasted for less than a few moments, but she still counts it as the scariest experience of her life). Her phobia is justified.

King Kaldur is normally opposed to violence but he has already discussed it with Dick (_of_ _course_) and is in. Artemis begins to wonder if their program is just as secure as Director Prince assures her.

...

(Artemis knows there's supposed to be another stop before she goes for her final one, but it's crossed off the list because he's currently missing in action; it's something that makes her stomach turn and her blood boil at the same time, which is a strange feeling.)

(Artemis wasn't there when they were attacked, but she refuses to believe the rumors that the man who regularly runs across the headlines of the Keystone City paper was lured with a Happy Meal, because that would've been an idiot move and Artemis doesn't associate with idiots. She doesn't have time for that.)

(Alright, maybe she does associate with one idiot but he's not _that _kind of idiot.)

(She would've went to get him between Atlantis and her final stop, because she knows it'd calm her down after the ocean enough to mentally prepare herself for her next destination. But she doesn't and doesn't let herself think of it during the flight, which isn't too hard, considering the noise her other passenger makes.)

...

Her fourth and final stop is in the middle of nowhere in a country whose name she can't pronounce, let alone spell for her report. This time she decides to bring Dick and not because she's heard of Superboy's temper and is scared of it. She's just terrible with directions when she doesn't have a GPS and unfortunately, there's no satellite service way out there.

They find the place after four hours of searching in S.H.I.E.L.D's helicopter. Dick waits outside while Artemis goes in because a) Dick might be charming but Artemis could talk a fish out of water and b) they both know that Artemis is more Conner's type.

She knocks and he answers. He's not as tall as Artemis thought he'd be.

"What?" He grunts out. Artemis holds out her hand.

"My name is Artemis Crock. I'm here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D." Artemis retracts her hand when all he does it stare at her.

"Go away," he says finally and goes to slam the door but Artemis stops it with her foot, something that hurts a lot more than you'd think from seeing it in movies. She grips the edge of the door with her hand, "You aren't even going to hear me out? Really, I thought Cadmus was supposed to have raised you right."

To rephrase an earlier statement: she can be charming when she _wants_ to be.

Artemis knows her words will strike a chord with him and she doesn't feel the least bit victorious when he opens the door wide enough to let her in. Conner slams the door behind her but she doesn't jump. Artemis' eyes sweep the room out of habit, noting all exits: two windows and the door behind her. Then she looks at the little things. The floor is dirt and there's an unmade bed beside a small, rickety table. There's an empty wardrobe and a small kitchenette with only the essentials. Artemis doesn't see any needles or bottles anywhere, nothing to suggest his past habits, so she takes it as a good sign.

"Looking for drugs?" Conner all but barks behind Artemis. She doesn't flinch.

"No. I'm from S.H.I.E.L.D, not the local police. But you know that."

"I don't care where you're from. You won't find any drugs here, or alcohol either. I've been sober for four years."

"I'm not here to talk about your recreational activities," Artemis says, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.

"No, but you'll need to know about them if I agree to what S.H.I.E.L.D wants me for. Spit it out."

He's rather forward, but Artemis can appreciate that. She's sick of having to dance around everything, edging her way into her mission. She's built for action, not negotiation.

"I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger's Initiative." She doesn't give him the chance to protest, "There is a small handful of extraordinary people across this Earth. S.H.I.E.L.D wants to bring them together, to fight for a common cause."

"And that is?" Conner says, seating himself at his table.

"Defend Earth," Artemis responds. Conner snorts.

"A team?" Artemis nods once. "And you want me on it?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what I am?"

"An experiment by a questionable organization. You were created to cause chaos and destruction." Artemis shrugs a shoulder, "I'm the same thing."

"You aren't a human?" He sounds surprised. Artemis almost feels bad shaking her head.

"No. But I was raised to be a liar and killer in the service of liars and killers. So were you."

"If you know so much about me, you should know about what they did to me."

He's right; she does know what they did to him. Cadmus planned everything out when it came to Conner. They even planted a failsafe, just in case he ever turned against them. They hooked him on a very powerful drug they developed so that he would always have to come crawling back to them for a fix. Unfortunately, they hadn't predicted any side effects to the drug. The side effects were extreme and completely uncontrollable; they took his mind and exchanged it for something much more animalistic, even after he stopped taking it.

"Your failsafe?" Artemis asks, "I'm not worried about a few little mood swings." Conner suddenly looks furious.

"Mood swings?! _Mood swings?!_" He stands and steps forward until he's within a foot of her person, but Artemis still doesn't flinch. She stares him straight in the eye. "Do you know what it's like to completely lose your mind? To have to wonder who you've killed this time?"

"I can imagine," Artemis says simply.

"What if I lost it while you were in here? You have no back up, no service to call for backup."

"Actually, she has both," Dick's somehow slipped in the window and is sitting at the table. His smile is that of a lion after its caught its prey; it's threatening and terrifying. Conner looks at Dick, then looks back at Artemis, who is still looking at him with a calm, blank expression.

"Get out," he says. Neither moves.

"But I haven't even told you the best part yet," Artemis says. Conner wretches open the door. "We have a cure."

Conner freezes. Then he slowly closes the door. "You have a cure?"

"Yep," Dick says, "It's just a prototype since we don't exactly have a human clone to test it on. But the rats we've tested it on have all had promising results." Conner blinks.

"How long?" Conner asks.

"It takes two weeks for it to start to kick in. An additional week for all symptoms to disappear completely. Your treatment will start off as injections in the arm, then you'll progress to a liquid taken orally, then a pill, then nothing," Artemis says.

"Just three weeks," Conner asks quietly.

"Three weeks," Dick repeats, holding up three fingers. Conner opens the wardrobe, takes out his coat, and slides it on his shoulders.

"Let's go," he says. Artemis and Dick exchange smiles.


	2. Part II

**Thanks for all the lovely reviews!**

**(There is supposed to be page breaks on these chapters but they aren't showing up and it's driVING ME CRAZY)**

**-RoyalVictory**

* * *

Klarion is back in the dark place. It's colder somehow. Maybe it is because he's dreaming. Maybe it's for reasons more sinister. Klarion doesn't know, and doesn't really care either.

He stands slowly (he'd been lying down when he woke) and turns slowly in a circle before he chooses a direction and begins to walk.

"Don't forget your promises," something whispers behind him, directly in his right ear. Klarion turns to see who it was, but it's too dark.

"Remember your deadline," something whispers behind him again, in the other ear. It's even closer this time and Klarion turns faster to meet it but he can't see anything in the dark.

"Promises," the voice behind him whispers.

"Deadline," another voice whispers as soon as he whips around.

"Promises."

"Deadline."

_"Promises."_

_"Deadline."_

Something shoves him, and Klarion falls back. When his eyes open, he takes in a sharp breath.

...

They're passing over Germany when they get a call about Klarion in Frankfurt. No one hesitates to suit up for the call. (Well, Dick and Artemis don't. Conner appears to decide to fight in his t-shirt and jeans.)

It's not hard to find him; the Lord of Chaos isn't exactly discreet. He stands amidst burning buildings and ground that cracks randomly while the occupants of the square flee and scream in terror. He laughs at their fear.

They set the helicopter on autopilot and descend into the German square. Artemis works her way to the front of the crowd while the others get in position.

"Klarion!" Artemis says loudly and she stands still, one of two solitary things in the whole square. People dodge her and send her pleading looks; she's sure not everyone can understand her, but the bow and notched arrow are probably message enough. Klarion turns and smiles when he sees her. "Under the authority of S.H.I.E.L.D, I am placing you under arrest. We can do this the easy way." She lets her arrow fly, and it shoots right through the horn in his hair, taking a few hairs with it. Another arrow is notched before the first meets its target. Klarion keeps smiling. "Or the hard way. You pick."

"And you're going to take me in, all by yourself?" Klarion says, "Because as I remember, your surveillance didn't go too well."

Artemis pulls her arrow back a little further, "I've got friends with me. I wouldn't underestimate them."

"So have I," Klarion says and before Artemis can realize what he means, he says, "I choose the fun way."

Artemis narrows her eyes at him, then sees something off to her left. When she turns her head, she sees a mass of yellow Kevlar slam into her and Artemis lets out a surprised yell at impact. She gets a good ten feet of airtime before she lands, skidding across the pavement, her bow landing twenty feet away.

Artemis looks up and sees the crowd is still in chaos, running in all directions. She knows Klarion must be feeding off this but she has no way of stopping it, not now anyways.

Artemis also sees Klarion's cat, except it's not a cat anymore. It's some kind of giant furry monster and it's running at Superboy, who's charging it in return. Nightwing is up against Klarion but she doesn't have time to see who's winning because Kid Flash is charging her again.

Artemis rolls out of the way and stands while Wally skids to a stop and turns on her. Dick is right: his eyes aren't the flower stems and endless grass fields that Artemis sees between missions. They're blue crystal, cracked and cold and empty.

"I don't want to have to hurt you," Artemis says slowly as they begin to circle each other. She sees Conner hit a building not far from her, but he hits the ground running and catches the cat around the throat with long strong arms. "But I will if I have to."

"C'mon, beautiful," Wally says and Artemis flinches when he uses the nickname, because that's _Wally's _nickname for her and whatever is controlling Wally right now _isn't_ allowed to use it. "You don't want to hurt me."

Artemis doesn't respond. Rather, she doesn't trust herself to respond. Artemis just launches herself at him and when he dodges the tackle, she lands in a somersault and picks up her bow when her hands hit the ground.

Artemis notches an arrow in midair and shoots as she lands, aiming twenty feet in front of Kid Flash. He dodges them, like she knows he could, and turns to look at her. He zips forward and he's on her faster than she can blink, delivering blow after blow which Artemis only manages to just deflect. When he finally lands one, it's on her shoulder and she spins from impact. It must've been his plan because he rips her quiver off her back and shoves her to the ground, throwing the quiver further than Artemis would be able to get while fighting a speedster.

Artemis turns over to her back and kicks him in the knee when he gets close enough, making it lock so he stumbles. She flips over backwards to her feet, bow in hand. Artemis deflects more of his blows with it, letting him go onto offence while she falls back to defense. He might be faster and stronger than her, but she knows that she has more stamina, especially if he hasn't eaten in a while. She just needs to tire him out.

Artemis and Wally have sparred dozens of times before and it's not unusual for her to win. Both always hold back; they could seriously hurt the other if they didn't. But now Kid Flash isn't holding back at all while the archer still is. She's hesitant to hurt him and it pisses her off, because this man has wormed his way into her so deeply that she can't make herself hurt him, even if not hurting him could mean serious damage to herself. (But she deals with it because with Wally, the pros outweigh the cons.)

She hears Nightwing yell and it distracts her for a split second, which is all Wally needs. He knocks her to the ground and this time he straddles her, wrestling her bow from her grip and tossing it away, pinning her thighs with his. He grabs her throat with both hands and Artemis claws at him, reaching for his face with one and scraping at his hands with the other.

"Wah-ll-ey," she manages out, choked. Both her hands go to his and her short nails scrape at his fingers, "I-it's me. Arr-te-miss." A look of confusion flashes on Wally's face, and his grip loosens. He blinks twice in rapid succession and Artemis swears, his eyes go green for half a second.

Artemis doesn't hesitate to use the distraction to punch him across the face.

Artemis flips them over and wrestles Wally's arms into a hold that can't keep him for long, but will tire him out quickly. He's physically stronger than her and could easily overtake her if she just tries to hold him down, even if she uses her body weight to do so. So she has to hold his arms in a grip that will hurt to get out of and waste lots of energy in doing it.

"Wally, _wake up_," she snarls, but he just fights back harder. He manages to wriggle free and decks her this time, flipping them back over. He pins her arms above her head and Artemis struggles to break her arms free from the awkward angle.

He leans down and those tundra eyes study her. Artemis stares back, willing him to recognize her. What he's looking for, she's not sure, but she hopes to god that it's a sign that Wally is breaking free of whatever hold Klarion has on him.

She hears a strong, feminine voice shout, "Teg ffo reh!" And Wally is suddenly flying backwards, just like she had when he rammed her before. Zatanna enters her line of sight, holding out a hand.

"Heard you might need backup," she says and Artemis nods breathlessly, still short of it after Wally's choke hold. She sees Kaldur helping Dick with Klarion and they seem evenly matched, though that giant cat seems to be tossing Conner around like a ball of yarn. Artemis looks back to Zatanna and notices her costume for the first time.

Zatanna's costume consists of black pants, big boots, a white corset with fish net sleeves, and a small leather jacket over top. Artemis sees that Kaldur's in his usual red tank and black pants, but she notices this time he has a sleeve of black armor on his dominant arm. Apparently she's not the only one who upped the ante on the protective padding.

"Help Superboy," Artemis says. "I'll take care of Kid Flash."

Zatanna nods, "You might need these," she holds out a hand, "Wob dna reviuq ot simetra!" Artemis' broken quiver and bow fly towards them and Artemis barely catches them. Zatanna points to the broken strap on the quiver. "Dnem," she says and the strap fixes itself. Artemis looks at her.

"Thanks," Artemis says and Zatanna nods before running off to help Conner. Artemis shoulders her quiver and notches an arrow. She turns and faces Wally, ready to release. Artemis shoots it the second Kid Flash begins to run at her, having recovered from Zatanna's blow. She shoots a second and third when he catches it, then just as his hands are full, she aims for his feet and shoots a cement arrow. Artemis watches him struggle for a moment before she turns and jogs to the others, but she finds there is no need.

Nightwing and Aqualad are standing over Klarion, who is bound and gagged with metal cuffs and what looks like Dick's glove, respectively. Superboy and Zatanna are with them, the cat held in some kind of glowing cage, probably courtesy of Zatanna. When she's sure that everyone is fine, Artemis turns to check on Kid Flash but all that's left is the cement block she had thought encased his feet.

Artemis immediately blames herself. She knew that it wouldn't have held him for long, and she still went to check on the others. Artemis curses under her breath, her teeth clench, and her fists tighten.

Someone puts their hand on her shoulder and Artemis whips to look who it is. Dick squeezes her shoulder gently with his bare hand.

"We'll get him back, don't worry," he says quietly. Artemis nods stiffly and they all head back to the helicopter while Artemis mentally scolds herself. She needs to get a grip. Her mission is still incomplete. Artemis has strict orders to round up every extraordinary being on this planet, mind controlled or not, and she has every intention of fulfilling it.

...

Artemis and Dick take the controls on the way to the Helicarrier while Zatanna, Superboy, and Aqualad chill in the back. Artemis hears the three in the back going through all the safe topics of masked heroes: favourite towns, costumes, the fight in Germany. Artemis knows them all well, having been in the business for so long.

They're somewhere over New Jersey when something hits them, quite literally.

The helicopter tilts to the side. They're lucky that they were all wearing their seatbelts, or they could've slammed into the wall and seriously hurt themselves. The back door is wrenched open to reveal two women are flying outside. A green skinned woman is holding the helicopter tail and pulls it, baring her teeth. She tilts the helicopter back so everyone has to hold on, while the second woman, whom is bathed in purple glow, encloses Klarion in a similarly coloured orb and pulls him out. They fly towards the forest below, taking S.H.I.E.L.D's prisoner with them.

Artemis and Dick steady the copter and Artemis speaks into the microphone on her headphones, seconds after the attack.

"Breaker breaker, this is Agent Artemis, designation B07. Prisoner has been kidnapped by two unknown subjects. Requesting permission to pursue."

"Go," Prince's voice cuts in. "Use force, if you must, but get Klarion back."

"I'll stay, go," Artemis says to Dick, flipping some switches above her head. Klarion must've done something to the copter back in Germany, because their autopilot is no longer working, which is why Artemis volunteers to stay back.

Everyone is ready to go in the back and Dick ditches his headphones on the seat and joins them. Artemis watches them in the rear view mirror as they all go down after the women. They fly on some kind of disc that Zatanna made, which is bronze and looks like a clock face. Artemis holds the copter steady and struggles to see down in the forest below.

"Status report," Prince says into the headphones.

"Aqualad, Nightwing, Zatanna, and Superboy are in pursuit," Artemis responds.

"I want to know what you see," Prince says instead and Artemis looks down.

She can't tell much of what's happening, but she sees multiple explosions and a tree falls with a crack Artemis can't hear over the copter. Artemis bites her lip. She hates waiting here, sitting and watching while that chaos wreaks below.

Artemis sits up. Wait. _Chaos_.

Artemis speaks into the headphones she's wearing, "Director Prince, I need to get down there. I don't know how, but I think Klarion planned this. I need remote pilot _now_."

"Get down there," Prince says, "I've got the controls."

Artemis shoves off the headphones and bolts to the back of the helicopter, ripping a parachute from the top shelf. She fastens it on and opens the helicopter door, then leaps out of it without hesitation.

She doesn't let herself free fall for long before she pulls the chute, jolting up when she does so. Artemis lands just outside the clearing and unbuckles the chute, running into the clearing where the fighting is taking place. She sees Dick and Zatanna are encased in one of those large purple orbs while Kaldur goes after the dark skinned woman controlling it. Conner is fighting the green skinned one, who doesn't lack strength but does lack his invincibility. That's obvious from the way she uses objects to meet his blows.

At the edge of the clearing on the other side, bound and gagged, Klarion is smiling.

Artemis shoots Conner first, knocking him out of the clearing with one of her blunt tipped arrows. She can't take any chances with him. Then she chooses a special arrow from her quiver and shoots in directly in the middle of the fighting. Artemis shields her eyes.

She hears the flash bang go off and both her friends and enemies hit the dirt. Artemis counts to three before she stands again and looks upon the clearing, where everyone is still shocked. Every Klarion, who seems so unshakable, is no longer smiling.

"Stop!" Artemis yells, and everyone looks at her, blinking the black spots out of their vision. She looks to the two women who attacked their helicopter, "I don't know who you are and why you want Klarion, but I can tell you aren't his ally. This is what he wants. He wants us to fight," she looks across the clearing, where Zatanna is helping Dick up and Kaldur is leaning heavily on a tree, water bearer in hand. Conner is stumbling back into the clearing, looking annoyed for her shooting him but Artemis can tell his mind is still there, and that's all she cares about.

"He wants chaos. He probably feeds off it. All your fighting is doing is helping him," Artemis says. Kaldur lowers his water bearer.

"Artemis is correct. So long as we fight each other, he is the only one who wins. We must bring him back to the Helicarrier-"

"Helicarrier? Klarion's not even staying on this planet," the dark skinned woman says, "He's going back to Mars."

"Mars?" Zatanna says, crossing her arms and cocking a hip, "He's _our_ prisoner. _We_ captured him."

"And we would've captured him if you hadn't got in the way," the dark skinned woman shoots back.

"You mean if we hadn't beat you to it," Dick says, crossing his arms. Artemis sends him a look. _Not. Helping._

The green skinned woman looks at him, "I have a warrant for his arrest. He has murdered eleven thousand Martians and he has to answer for his crimes."

"Yeah? And who gives you that authority?" Zatanna snaps, hand on her hip. Artemis knows what she's doing, and she thinks the other two women know too. Dick and Kaldur have been inching towards Klarion, and Conner has been inching towards both of the women. If they don't sense an attack, they're the biggest fools Artemis has ever met.

Artemis is usually completely unopposed to violence, but in this situation, violence is the _last _thing they need.

The green skinned woman stands straighter, "I am given the authority by being the champion of Mars."

Dick whistles under his breath, "That'll do it."

"You're Miss Martian and Rocket, right? M'gann M'orzz and Raquel Ervin are your real names," Artemis interrupts, and everyone looks at her, startled. Obviously, they hadn't expected her to speak. "I work for S.H.I.E.L.D," Artemis takes her badge off her belt and holds it up before she throws it to the women's feet. The Martian picks it up. "They helped you last time you were on this planet, M'gann. And you too, Raquel, a couple years ago in a situation that I'm not legally allowed to talk about," a few eyebrows go up at the last one but Raquel nods once to show she knows what she's talking about. "Now I'm asking for you to return the favour."

The women exchange a look. They stare at each other for a moment, which Artemis thinks is strange until she remembers that M'gann can communicate telepathically. They both look back at the blonde. "Deal," Rocket says. Artemis smiles.

"I also have a proposition," Artemis says because the truth is, Prince didn't give her five folders. She gave her seven.

Artemis gives them a brief rundown of the Avengers Initiative and what they are going to set out to do. Just because they have Klarion now, doesn't mean there won't be more like him, Artemis is sure. Rocket and Miss Martian seem to agree.

"I'm in," Rocket says without hesitation. Miss Martian quickly follows.

"Me too," she says, "Because Earth needs all the help it can get."

"Who says there'll be more of me, especially when you haven't even properly dealt with me yet," a high pitched voice says and everyone turns to see Klarion. They'd forgotten him in the agreements and he's somehow over powered Nightwing, a foot on his head that shoves his face into the dirt. Artemis guesses it has something to do with his staff, which has magically appeared back in his hands even though Artemis swears it was still in the helicopter when she jumped. Artemis raises her bow.

"Put it down, Klarion," M'gann hisses, eyes glowing. Artemis sees the others out of the corner of her eye, ready for battle.

Klarion pauses, then smiles, "Of course," he drops it. Artemis shots an arrow as it falls, causing the tip to turn in midair and aim at him instead of them. A bright light shoots out and hits a tree, knocking it clean over. Klarion smiles a little wider, "Very good."

"On your knees with your hands on your head. Say another word and she'll shoot your eye out," Zatanna warns. When Klarion looks at her forward confirmation, Artemis lifts her shoulder and eyebrow in an agreeing motion. Klarion makes a tsking noise but does as she commands.

Dick stands and Raquel comes forward to shove Klarion to the ground, taking specialized handcuffs off her belt and attaching them to his wrists. She pulls out a specialized mouth restraint around his head, which will hold his jaw in place so he cannot cast any verbal spells. Zatanna casts a spell and blue bonds appear over the first ones for good measure. Zatanna grabs his upper arm and tugs him up.

It's too easy, Artemis thinks. There's no way that he's just giving up. Artemis picks up his scepter and hands it to Zatanna, who encases it in some large, glowing orb with words Artemis can't hear.

Dick presses a button on his belt and the helicopter begins to slowly lower a platform that they can all ride up on. Conner comes to stand next to her and watches the platform come down.

"I will get your parachute," Aqualad volunteers and Artemis thanks him with an incline of her head but doesn't look away from Klarion. She suddenly feels very badly about this, especially when Klarion turns around and looks straight at her, like he can feel her gaze.

"How's your father, Conner?" Says a voice from behind them. Artemis swings over to see it's the cat that's talking. She forgot about that damn cat, and now they're all paying for it.

Everyone exchanges strange glances across the clearing, but Artemis feels Conner stiffen beside her. Without looking away from the cat, she says, "Klarion, I will shoot you if you don't stop that right now."

"Conner, I asked you a question. How's your father?" The cat's tail flicks and Artemis glances at Klarion. He's smiling under his mask, Artemis can tell from the way his eyes are crinkled. "Oops, I forgot. How insensitive of me. You've never had a father. Lex Luthor is insane and wants nothing to do with you. Clark Kent left as soon as he witnessed one of your episodes."

"Conner, don't listen," Dick says and he must be realizing how serious the situation has become. Conner's fists are white.

"Conner, Cooonner. Poor little Conner. No one loves Conner. Conner is all alone."

Artemis steps in front of Conner, blocking the cat from sight, "Conner. Conner, look at me. Listen to me. You aren't alone. I'm here. Dick's here. Kaldur, Zatanna, M'gann, Raquel. We're all here. You aren't alone."

"Poor baby Conner. You just want another taste of the patches, don't you? Can't you remember how it felt to be so high up?"

"Conner, look at me," Artemis persists.

"No one even tried to stop you when you left. No one."

"Conner."

"Poor baby Conner. Never was a baby, was he?"

"Conner, _look at me."_

"Sad little Conner. All alone. So hungry for his high. So angry all the time."

"Nightwing," Artemis quietly and suddenly. "Get away. All of you. Bring Klarion." Her tone changes, along with Superboy. Conner's eyes aren't blue anymore; they're red. Artemis steps back.

"We aren't leaving you here, Artemis," Aqualad says lowly.

"Poor Conner, innocent Conner. Monster Conner."

"Conner, don't-" Faster than a snake, Superboy's hand shoots out and wraps itself around her neck and for the second time today, Artemis is fighting for breath. Artemis claws at it. "Conner," she works out in nothing more than a choked whisper. His grip tightens.

Dick's already shooting at him, he started when Superboy first grabbed her, but the bullets are just bouncing off him. Conner is invincible, after all. He changes his grip on her, spinning her around and using her as a shield, arm tight around her neck. It forces Dick to stop shooting and he drops both guns back in their holsters. He draws his escrima sticks while Artemis digs her nails into Conner's arm. She would bite him, if she didn't think she could break her teeth by trying.

"Rocket, Zatanna, take Klarion to the helicopter," Kaldur says. They do as he says without argument and shoot up to the helicopter with Klarion, trying to break whatever contact he has with his cat.

"I can feel him," M'gann says, "In his mind. Conner's still there. He's just...overpowered." Artemis can't speak, her sounds reduced to pathetic cracks and squeaks

Miss Martian lifts a hand and a rock flies up to hit Conner in the shoulder. His grip doesn't loosen around Artemis' neck and she can feel her consciousness slipping, her head droops as her fight abandons her. Miss Martian sends more rocks, all of which hit Conner and miss Artemis.

Finally, they are enough to get his attention; he throws Artemis suddenly so she hits a tree horizontally, back connecting with the trunk. Her head slams on her arm and her Achilles' heels bang against each other. Her vision wavers. She sees black spots as her brain tries to recover from the lack of oxygen.

Artemis gives herself a count to three and makes herself sit up. Her legs are too wobbly to stand on, but she doesn't stop trying. When Artemis falls for a third time, she tries to focus on the fight, which is full of bright flashes and flying objects. They're all fighting; it's a huge cluster fuck. And it's just what Klarion _wants_.

Artemis forces herself to stand and notches an arrow. She takes a deep breath before she raises her bow and pulls it back to her lip. She aims it at Conner and lets it fly; her aim is true (she _never _misses) and it catches him around the feet. For the moment, he's caught in the quick drying compound that's stronger than cement and they need to take advantage of it.

"I can get him," M'gann says, eyes closed. She approaches Conner carefully and he yells and throws his fists, but it'll take more than that to break free. She grabs the sides of his face. Her eyes are glowing and even when she closes them, the green shines from beneath her lids.

Conner's entire body suddenly stiffens before he can even take a swing. His arms drop and his body goes limp.

Suddenly, Miss Martian's legs give out from under her. Dick just manages to catch her as she falls, her head lolling over his arm. Conner is not so lucky. He falls backwards and hits the dirt hard, but doesn't seem to feel it. No one breathes as they wait for him to open his eyes, to move, to do _something. _

When he groans, everyone lets out a collective breath. Even Artemis, who is leaning on a tree with leaden legs. Her head is still spinning a little when his eyes open and they're blue again.

"Are you alright?" Dick asks and no one is sure who he's asking; M'gann or Conner.

"Ow," Conner says.

"I'm okay," M'gann says, holding her forehead. She looks at Conner and seems to be trying to decipher something.

Kaldur comes over and lets Artemis lean on him so she can walk more steadily to the platform; she just needs some sugar in her and to sit for ten minutes, and she'll be fine again. She knows she will. Artemis has bounced back from worse.

M'gann has to carry Conner to the platform because Artemis doesn't have the chemical that melts the stuff around his feet. He doesn't seem to appreciate being floated to the platform, but he'll just have to deal until they reach the Helicarrier.

That cat is lucky that Artemis doesn't know where it is; otherwise, it'd have twelve different arrows in its hide.


	3. Part III

**Thank you so muc****h for all the lovely reviews! **

**-RV**

* * *

They're on the Helicarrier, and it's bigger than Conner imagined. The place is huge, a flying aircraft carrier, and it's going _somewhere _but Conner doesn't know where. There's lots of people on this ship and Conner can hear every last one of them, their voices and footsteps echoing off the steel walls of the ship. It would be harder to tune out, but Conner's had years of practice with this kind of thing, and turns down the volume in his head without a second thought.

The very moment they board off the helicopter, everyone splits up, heading in different directions. Artemis and Dick are the only ones who really seem like they know where they're going while the others just seem to wander. Conner doesn't know about anyone else, but he just wants to get _away. _Away from Klarion, away from Artemis, and away from everyone else, too. He doesn't want to be reminded that he almost killed Artemis, who already had bruising on her neck from god knows where before he got at her. She was also the one who was responsible for him coming, which doesn't help; it would be easier to say that she deserves it but that's a shit excuse and no one deserves _that._ He almost killed the others too, ripped them to shreds with his bare hands. Conner doesn't forget how _easy _it would be. He doesn't want to remember that he's supposed to work with these people despite all that.

Don't they know that he's a monster? He shouldn't be working with them. One or more of them is going to die, and it will be at his hands. And he hates knowing it.

Conner finds standing alone himself on the flight deck, which is full on people working on high tech computers. Director Prince stands on a kind of stage in the middle of it all, typing on a series of computers that surround her in a semicircle. The entire front wall is made of glass panes, curved in a hemisphere around the flight deck.

"I'm sorry," a soft, genuine voice says behind Conner, and he turns around to see who it is. The Martian stands behind him, long red hair tied up in a ponytail. She is wearing a black spandex full body suit with a large red 'x' across the front, blue cape hanging behind her. Her green hands are twisting in front of her and she has pinned both her lips between her teeth. She won't meet his eye, just like she hadn't the whole ride back. She'd flown outside for a time, then taken over the controls for a while up front. Her ship had followed behind them the whole way and she had occasionally ventured back to it. She hadn't looked at him the whole time. Conner had thought she was scared of him, and she should be, but why would she be apologizing for fear? It's justified; he's a monster.

"I shouldn't have just barged into your mind like that," she continues and Conner's eyebrows meet in the middle. Why is she apologizing for knocking out the beast inside him? "It wasn't right of me," she says.

Randomly, Conner remembers that she's the first Martian he's ever met. She's prettier than he expected. Kinder too, despite the ferocity they both showed back in the forest. It's a strange combination but Conner thinks it's kind of beautiful, like sunshine. Bright and lovely but with a potential to be deadly. Conner doesn't have much beauty like that in his life, deeper than the appearance of the body she's in.

"I – I mean I didn't see anything or hear anything I shouldn't have. I just – I went in there without permission and that was wrong. And I'm sorry." The Martian finishes awkwardly and a little rushed. Her words are jammed near the ending, but they're said with sincerity.

Conner still doesn't know why she's apologizing. He doesn't get it. He doesn't know how to reply either, so he shrugs. "Whatever."

Finally, she looks at him, eyebrows raised in surprise. "Pardon?"

Conner shrugs again, "I don't have any secrets. My life is a billboard, especially around here."

"Oh," she says softly. There's a pause before she says, "Well, it is very nice to meet you, Conner."

Conner looks over at her, a little surprised. She's watching out the front window, at the sunset that bathes the entire flight deck in an array of pinks, oranges, and yellow.

No one's ever said that to him before.

"It's nice to meet you too, Miss Martian," Conner says respectively, unsure how else to respond.

Miss Martian looks over at him. "M'gann," she corrects with a smile. Despite himself, Conner finds himself smiling back.

"There he is," M'gann says, smile dropping as she redirects her eyes to look over his shoulder. Conner follows her gaze and sees ten armed guards escorting Klarion down the hall. He must feel their gazes because he slowly turns his head to look at them through the window. M'gann's posture becomes straighter and her fists clench. But Klarion's not looking at her. He's looking at Conner, directly at _him_ with a gaze so piercing that Conner doesn't feel invincible anymore. Klarion smiles at him under they turn down the hall. Conner suddenly has a worse feeling about all this.

"M'gann," he says and she looks over at him. "If I... lose it again, pull me back. Go in my brain and knock me out or whatever you did. If it'll stop me from hurting anyone, then go in my mind all you want."

M'gann gives him a small, encouraging smile, "Okay." Conner looks back out to the window and can see that there's a few clouds in the Helicarrier's path.

"Earth sunsets are very beautiful," M'gann says. Conner doesn't look at her straight out, but he does look at her out of the corner of his eye. She's really very beautiful.

Conner never got lessons in social skills. He didn't even know how to talk properly when he first escaped, everything he knows now learned from books. The only words Cadmus intended for him to ever know were 'yes' and 'sir'. Conner taught himself 'no'. He finds it hard to carry on a conversation, to not become short with people. Somehow, M'gann makes it easy. Conner doesn't know what that means.

"Does Mars have sunsets?" He asks. M'gann nods.

"They're breathtaking," she says.

"Will you...will you tell me about them?" Conner asks. M'gann beams at the question and starts to tell him about red sand and suns that burn the horizon.

...

"Is there any booze in here?" Zatanna looks up and smiles when she sees Raquel in the doorway of the empty kitchen, arms crossed. Zatanna takes some comfort in that she's not the only one looking for a drink, and nods easily.

"Don't tell Prince," she says as she fills a second shot glass with the rum she's found, hidden away in a locked cabinet in the back of the kitchen. Raquel picks up the shot.

"Please. I just helped a Martian track down a god-knows-what halfway across the country only to have to deal with a very angry science experiment gone wrong. And, I saw a cat talk today. I earned this," she downs the glass and sets it on the counter when she's done.

"Amen," Zatanna says and tips her glass up in a cheers before swallows the spiced rum. She wipes her mouth on the back of her hand and leans on her elbows on the island where she's sitting.

Both girls look up and see two guards pass by through the window, which is strange since those same guards just passed a minute ago. And the minute before that too.

"They followed me all the way here," Zatanna says quietly, turning her head casually away from the window and towards Raquel.

"I've had the same two on my back since we stepped on this thing," Raquel responds, expression so unreadable that she could be talking about anything from the weather to taking a nuke to the states.

Zatanna pours both of them another drink. She lifts the cup to her lips and uses it to block them from the camera that is undoubtedly there, "You feel like we're being watched too?"

Raquel lifts her glass too. "Oh, yeah," she says before knocking it back.

...

Director Prince watches her guards put Klarion in his cell with steely blue eyes, powerful and unyielding. Once her prisoner is inside, she unclasps her hands from behind her back to flick the switch on the control board. The door to her cage slides closed. She waves her hand to dismiss her guards, then approaches the cage with her hands clasped behind her back once again.

"You know, Director, that eye patch is very stylish, but I think I'd prefer to see the scar. How _did _you get it?" Klarion says, sitting and crossing his legs like a child settling in for story time. Prince just smiles.

"Work accident," she says. "Don't worry. The woman who did this is going to rot away in a nice, cold cell, just like you."

Klarion smiles, "But this nice, cold cell wasn't built for me, was it?" Prince shakes her head.

"It was built for something much stronger than you."

Klarion rolls his eyes spectacularly, "Well I've already guessed _that_." He sounds like a child when he says it, over dramatic and impatient.

Prince turns from where she'd walked towards him and goes back to the controls, "Klarion, do you know how this works?" Klarion doesn't respond, so she continues. "That glass was developed especially for S.H.I.E.L.D. If you so much as breath on it the wrong way, it will trigger the computer to open the hatch."

"Hatch?" Klarion asks with interest. Prince presses a button and a large hatch opens belong them, letting in winds so strong that the cell shakes and Klarion topples over. Prince, who had known what was coming, is still standing tall. Not a hair lifts out of place from her tight military issue bun.

"You trigger the hatch to open, and the cage drops, straight to the ground. With you inside," she has to shout over the wind as it screams, scraping its teeth on the inside of the ship and clawing its nails on the steel. Prince presses the button again and the hatch closes, cutting off the wails of the wind. Klarion rubs his head, which he hit on the floor when he fell, and glares up at her. His chest is rising and lowering with conscious control, his teeth clenched together in fury.

"How desperate are you?" Klarion says except now, his voice is much louder. Prince doesn't know how he has done it but it sounds like it's coming from the intercoms, letting the entire ship hear their conversation. The Director won't let it phase her, and she remains calm. "You call on such lost and broken creatures to protect you," the Lord of Chaos says.

"An archer whose hands are dripping with blood and shoulders are covered in demons," he continues through the intercom. Across the ship in the surveillance room, Artemis refuses to look at anything except the frame of the computer before her. Her teeth are clenched tightly.

Klarion continues, "An acrobat who should've fallen with his family, and now tries to recreate it with every height he sees." Dick's fingers pause over the lab's keyboard. They twitch.

"A champion whose planet can't stand the sight of her." M'gann looks away from the reflective glass before her, too ashamed to look at the false image she made for herself.

"A king who has no royal blood in his veins, but plenty on his hands," Kaldur tries not to let himself think of his predecessors, who fell in a war started by his own father, or the image a girl with hair like precious coral and a smile that could light even the deepest of oceans.

"A magician who killed her own father so she could live." Zatanna feels the weight of her father's sacrifice in the wedding band around her neck, stolen off the cold finger of a corpse on the worst day of her life.

"A girl who would be _nothing _without a _belt_." Raquel's fingers lift from her pockets, brushing against her only source of power. They burn with the contact.

"A speedster who will never be good enough." Somewhere, the fastest man alive pauses, hearing the words echo in his head. For a split second, his eyes flash green.

"And finally, a man who is more beast than human." The steel table Conner is holding bends to his will, taking the shape of his grasp.

"How desperate are you?" Klarion finishes with a smile.

Prince considers him for a moment before she speaks. "You killed four hundred people on Earth, and nearly three times that on Mars," Prince says. She is unsurprised how her voice is also magnified. "You have made me very desperate."

For the fractured pack of vigilantes on the ship, the world seems heavier somehow.

...

Artemis finds Dick in a room above the flight deck, one they use for science experiments and occasionally weapon development. It has some kind of long mouthful of a name that no one but Prince and a few higher up execs bother to remember, named after some long dead agents that leave different, longer lasting legacies than this. Everyone just refers to it as the lab instead. It's the place Artemis always checks first when she's looking for Dick or Wally; she's sure it's their favourite place on the Helicarrier.

Sure enough, Dick is inside, and Kaldur is with him. Dick is typing into the computer and Kaldur is studying the staff, bent over the table it is on with his hands clasped behind his back. Both are still in uniform, like her, but they have taken off bits of it: Kaldur has lost the armour and Dick his mask and gloves. Artemis' own mask is in her pocket, her wrist guards in her hand.

Klarion's words still echo in her head, and she knows that's their point: to wear them down from the inside. She doesn't want them to, doesn't want to let him win, but it's hard not to let your past destroy you from the inside. Especially with one as red as hers.

"Anything?" Artemis asks from the doorway, standing in the threshold. Dick looks up at her from the computer and Kaldur straightens, hands behind his back.

"I've got nothing," Dick admits, "Alien tech is more Wally's area of expertise." Artemis nods once. Wally has degrees in both Physics and Biochemistry, plus he studied alien technology over the past year. He'd be able to identify what the staff is and where it's from in a second.

Not for the first time, Artemis wishes that she'd have been taken instead. If only she'd have finished her mission early, they wouldn't have had to contract in Dick _or _Wally. She would've been the one that got taken. Artemis hates that is wasn't her.

"What about you, Kaldur?" Artemis asks. The Atlantean king shakes his head.

"It is beyond anything we have in Atlantis. I have never seen anything like it, I am afraid. Perhaps you might take a look?" It is Artemis' turn to shake her head.

"Can't," she says. "I've got something to do right now. I'll come back later." Kaldur nods, going back to studying the staff, but Dick looks up at her with a question on his teeth.

Artemis leaves before he can ask it and presses her mask back on her face. She tugs on her wrist guards as she walks down the halls, passing the door to the hold. She's decided to enter through something more creative than a door. Artemis pulls open the vent cover and slips inside, sliding through with ease. She drops silently down on the opposite side of the circular glass cage that holds Klarion.

Artemis remembers seeing the plans for this cage at Dick's apartment once. She knows the glass is two feet thick and laced with a special compound that Wally designed. If it's so much as scratched on the inside, a chemical reaction occurs and alerts the computer, which opens the hatch below and drops it all fifty thousand feet to the ground. No one would be able to survive a fall to the Earth like that. Unless you were say, indestructible.

Klarion is pacing back and forth like a wild animal inside, and continually glances at the door opposite of Artemis. He's waiting for something, or maybe someone. Artemis watches him pace and glance thrice more before he finally pauses.

"Well done, Agent Crock. Not many people can sneak up on me." He turns and looks at her, smiling.

Artemis crosses her arms, keeping her face impassive. "What have you done with Kid Flash?" She keeps her tone even, strong as she cuts straight to the point. Artemis finds her patience has been lacking these past few days.

"Ah, yes. I expected you to come here, you know." Klarion says his words with relish and his anticipation shines through. "Baby Flash told me all about you, blondie. It was Artemis _this _and Artemis _that_. You should've heard his thoughts before I stole them." He's so excited to rip Artemis apart, and she can equally tell and not care.

"So is that what you did? Stole his thoughts? Or his whole mind?"

Klarion giggles. The sound is akin to a sharp rock being dragged across glass, scratching and screeching the whole way. It makes Artemis want to flinch away, but she doesn't. "Why take a piece when I can have the whole?" Klarion says and Artemis' stomach goes cold.

Her expression remains indifferent. She takes a step towards him across the metal grate below her feet. "And what happened to his thoughts?"

Klarion giggles with glee, "Is this love I sense, Miss Crock?"

Artemis smiles at him but it's bitter and sharp, one that one might reserve for when patience is lost over trying to explain something incredibly simple to someone that's stupidly naive. Her short laugh is cold. "There's no such thing as love." It's a lie she used to repeat to herself over and over, back when she was an assassin in training; it's how she explained the trials her own father put her through.

"I think Wally would beg to differ." Klarion says and Artemis braces herself, "You know, he remembers the strangest things about you. 'Artemis likes the rain but loves the sun.'" Her smile falters slightly. Klarion continues in his deeper falsetto, something that doesn't anywhere near Wally's tone but it doesn't much matter since what he's saying is verbatim of Wally's thoughts, "'Artemis loves campfires but hates the woods. Artemis loves to have her shoulders and hands rubbed after missions. Artemis tells people that I'm the one who brought the dog home, but she's the one who really did it. Artemis loves Gotham but she loves living in Keystone more.'_ Blah, blah, blah_." By the time he finishes his taunt, Artemis' teeth are clenched together, any evidence of a smile, no matter how harsh, is gone.

"But he doesn't just remember the good things. No, he knows your fears too, which you whispered to him in the dead of night. I saw those too. Not only that, but you told him all those things you've done. Artemis Lian Crock, you've done some pretty terrible things."

Artemis's eyes widen slightly. "I-I'm making up for it," the words come out quickly, too quickly and twice as weakly. Like she's trying to reassure herself. "I'm better n-"

"Are you? I don't think you can make up for crimes like that," Klarion interrupts, "I mean, what about that homeless man? Killed because he looked at your father in the wrong way? The Sebastian's? You didn't kill them all, but you gave them a one way ticket to the loony bin after they say what you did to their father. Or Mr. Callahan? Miss Trent? How about what happened in Moscow? Saudi Arabia? Or that plane crash over Iran?" Artemis knuckles are white, her nails in her palm. Her eyes are tinted red. "They're just few of many examples. But your father didn't need to make you do those things, did he? You always loved doing those things, didn't you? _Don't_ you?" Artemis swallows thickly and blinks twice in rapid succession. Klarion continues, that sick little smile on his face. He takes a step forward and Artemis stumbles back one. "Can you feel the blood that drips from your quiver, Miss Crock?" She stares at him with rabbit's eyes.

Klarion continues, "I'll tell you what I'm going to do with Kid Flash. When I break out of here, I'll send him after you. When he catches you, he will kill you in all the ways you fear. He'll kill you slowly and painfully then he'll wake up just in time to see what he has done. He'll hold you and watch the light leave your eyes. Then, I'll kill him too. And it'll be all. Your. Fault."

Artemis whips around so her back it to him. Her shoulders quiver and her chest shakes up and down unevenly, "You're a monster." Her voice trembles, coming out in a breathy whisper.

"Monster?" Klarion cackles, "I'm not the only monster on board, girlie. The other one should be locked up in here with me, especially when setting him off is so _easy_-"

Artemis straightens. She turns, eyes dry, "So that's your plan? Superboy?" Klarion's eyes widen and Artemis smiles slightly, but it's not the sweet kind, it's the kind that very clearly reads _screw you_. She marches past Klarion, around the cage. As she goes, she presses the bud in her ear.

"This is Agent Artemis, designation B07. Klarion's target is Superboy, repeat the target is Superboy. I'm on my way now." Before Artemis leaves out the door, she turns back to her prisoner. Her smile remains, but it's scarier now; it's that of a tigress once she's caught her prey.

"Thank you for your cooperation."

The sound of his furious yell and his fist hitting the glass almost makes up for the way she suddenly feels she can't breathe.

...

Moments after Artemis breezes out of the lab and towards her interrogation, Zatanna and Raquel wander in. Raquel waits for the door behind her to close before she says, "Any of you guys noticed that they're watching us?"

Kaldur's agreeing voice is kept low, "Honestly, I am beginning to feel as if I am a prisoner myself."

Dick looks at them over his shoulder from where he stands at his computer. "Not only that," he says, "But they're keeping secrets from us. There's a hidden drive on here, heavily encrypted." Dick picks up a tablet and walks over to them, typing with one hand. "They tried to make it invisible but I found it anyways."

"Can you get in it?" Zatanna asks. Dick looks at her.

"Can I?" He grins, "I was the one who designed the encryption. I'm decrypting it now, but it could take a while. All I got right now is it's called Phase Two." M'gann and Conner wander in then, catching the last of the explanation.

"I bet I could beat your fancy computer," Zatanna says.

Dick looks at hit, still grinning, "Yeah? Alright." He takes out his wallet. "I've got a hundred," he says after glancing into it. Zatanna grins and holds out her hands for him to shake, which he does.

"Deal," she turns to the room. "Anyone want to join me?" M'gann steps forward.

"I'll come. I would like to know why they are following us. This could give us an answer," she says with a warm smile. When no one else volunteers, they set off.

It's not hard to ditch the guards who follow them. Just a muttered "edih em" from Zatanna and camo mode from M'gann gets them confused after the first turn and makes all four guards double back. The two women head to the rear starboard, which is where M'gann's telepathy tells her the security is ten times tighter than the rest of the ship.

They get to a large steel door that makes a big deal of itself with fat bolts on the frame and an eye scanner and keypad beside it. The girls have to pause at the corner before it because of the two guards standing watch.

Zatanna holds out her hand, "Ekoms dna srorrim... Etaerc na noinsulli fo em." A copy of Zatanna materializes before them and winks before she turns and goes down to talk to the guards. All it takes is a few smiled words, a giggle, and a toss of the copy's hair for both guards to march away on the copy's arms, down the opposite end of the hallway.

"_Men_," Zatanna says under her breath.

The two women hurry down the hall, pausing at the door. There's a fat screen on the door that was blocked before by a guard, the keypad next to it. M'gann stares at it for a moment before Zatanna breezes past her.

"I've got this," she whispers, "I have my dad's old code." She types in the five digit number but the screen flashes red a moment after, her access denied. "That's weird."

M'gann has to look over her shoulder at her, having been standing watch. "What?"

"My dad's code doesn't work. He was level six clearance, which is the highest an agent can get. He should have access everywhere." Zatanna bites her lip, "It doesn't make sense."

They hear footsteps behind them and M'gann steps back against the wall, pulling up her hood and camouflaging herself. Zatanna uses the wall for leverage and pulls herself up to the roof of the hall, bracing her arms straight against one end and her legs on the other. And she does all of this in heels.

A scientist that resembles a pencil in some ways, with a large, pointy head that has a bit of black hair on top and a short, round bottom held in red pants approaches the door. He types in a number neither M'gann nor Zatanna can see, then scans this eye and continues into the hall. Zatanna drops down silently while M'gann sheds her camouflage.

"You see the code?" Zatanna asks. M'gann shakes her head.

"I didn't need to. I saw the locks," she says. M'gann holds out her hand and her eyes go green as she pictures the locks sliding out of the door and the door sliding open in her mind. The locks obey her command and the door opens, just like that. Both women check the hallway is clear before continuing into it. It's dark and cooler in this end, a light breeze brushing their hair carefully. The floors are made of steel grate and the walls are lined with more sliding doors, these ones without a keypad or knob or anything.

M'gann steps forward and braces her hands on a door at random, using her strength to open it. The door bends under her will and swings open, admitting both women.

This room is even darker than the last, and massive. It's not wide, but it's deep, going beyond the light's reach. It's tall too and must be the entire height of the ship because when the women look up, they can't see the roof. The dark has claimed that too. The entire place is just walkway after walkway, with about three feet of room between adjacent walkways.

Without hesitation, Zatanna leaps up and grabs the safety pole that wraps around a walkway above them. She flips over it and lands silently on her feet before she runs her fingers along the lid of a container there. She braces her hands on the lip and pulls with all her might. When it won't budge under her weight, she steps back and holds out a palm.

"Nepo!" The crate lid flies off , up and behind Zatanna where it crashes to the floor on the ground level. M'gann's on the ground level does the same, courtesy of her telepathy. Zatanna steps forward and pushes aside the straw inside. Her eyes widen at what she sees.

"Zatanna, what do you have?" M'gann asks tentatively.

"I've got weapons," Zatanna says. _"Big_ weapons." She turns around to find M'gann floating behind her, holding a gun almost larger than her, similar to the one Zatanna has just found.

"Me too," she says.

Zatanna places a hand on her hip, "What do you say? Wanna go figure out what the hell is going on here?" M'gann nods.

...

"So that's his plan? Me?" Conner says, furious. His fist hits the table. Artemis has just returned from her interrogation and she's shared Klarion's plan with all the occupants of the room. Kaldur doesn't think it's going very well.

Conner suddenly turns on both Dick and Artemis, "I told you this was a bad idea."

Kaldur's never witnessed Artemis in any of her infamous interrogations, but he's certainly heard of them. She has never failed, not once. It makes Kaldur wonder what kind of information she's extracted from him without his knowledge. He trusts Artemis and he loves her like a sister, but she is the most glacé person he knows, smoothed, hardened, and chilled from years of training.

"Playing the blame game, huh?" Everyone looks to Zatanna, who's standing in the doorway. Her arms are crossed and she's standing next to M'gann, who is holding an intricate gun. "Because we've got a few questions ourselves." Director Prince walks in just as M'gann drops the weapon on the table dramatically and crosses her arms.

"I see you've discovered Phase Two," Prince says calmly. Dick pulls out his wallet and hands Zatanna the hundred dollar bill, who tucks it in her pocket.

"You had us followed so we wouldn't find these, didn't you?" M'gann says. Prince inclines her head. The computer beeps and everyone looks over to the screen, which Dick is turning towards them.

"My decryption is done," he says and skims the lines on the screen. "You need the tesseract to power these weapons, according to your files. That's why you're after it."

"_This_ is your plan for the tesseract?" Kaldur says, crossing his arms, "You want it so you can produce weapons?"

Prince answers, "Yes."

"I thought the Avengers were for _peace_. Not weapon making," M'gann says, fiery hair flying around her as she whips to look at Prince.

"The goal of the Avengers Initiative is to _defend _Earth. Not let other aliens walk all over it and destroy the human race," Artemis says.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" Conner accuses. Artemis doesn't deny it.

"I _am_ the only official S.H.I.E.L.D agent here," she bites back. "I'm the only one with the security clearance."

"Conner, I think it might be best if you remove yourself from this environment," Kaldur says and Conner whirls on him, pointing an accusatory finger at Artemis.

"I was _safe_. Completely _alone_. I was all the way across the world, before _she _dragged me back here."

"Klarion is manipulating you," Artemis warns. "And you're falling for it."

"Just like you did to get me here," Conner snarls.

"You didn't come here because I batted my eyelashes," Artemis says defensively, "You saved those kids in that hospital fire last year. You saved an entire rainforest's population from mind control collars. You _wanted _to come, Conner. So stop pretending you're not a good person and start looking at yourself instead of blaming me."

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Conner says. He points to Dick, "You helped too. You're just as much to blame."

"Under my orders," Prince said suddenly, not willing to let her agents, official or not, take the fall for her commands.

"Then explain why you even have Phase Two in the first place!" Zatanna snaps.

"Because of her," Prince says, pointing at M'gann, who drops her crossed arms in surprise.

"Me?"

"Yes, you," Prince says, crossing her arms. "Last year, you came to Earth. In doing so, you levelled a small town. By accident, I know, but if you alone can level a town by accident, imagine what an army of Martians could do on _purpose. _After you landed here, we realized we were fabulously outnumbered and _superlatively outgunned._"

M'gann shakes her head, "Martians are a peaceful people. We have no quarrel with humans."

Prince nods, "And we know that. But what if another species comes along, one not so nice? S.H.I.E.L.D is tasked with protecting earth and its people. How will we do that if we can't even _match _the enemy?"

"What enemy does earth have?" Dick says, "No one except for Klarion has tried to attack."

"And you brought him here by experimenting with the tesseract," Zatanna adds.

"You're sending a message to the universe that Earth wants war," M'gann says.

"So if Klarion came here and we didn't have the tesseract, he'd be dancing through a field of daisies?" Artemis says, "If he came here on his own, I highly doubt a self proclaimed Lord of Chaos would be after peace. He killed hundreds of people in less than a week and that was _just_ _him_. What if there's a whole race of him? What if they all want the human race extinct?"

"But Klarion was not unprovoked. He came _for _the tesseract. If you didn't have it, then he would've never came at all," Raquel says.

"I don't think you can talk," Dick says.

"Oh yeah?" Raquel places her hands on her hips.

"You _do_ walk around with alien matter in your belt," Zatanna says.

"Since when did this become about me, Houdini?" Raquel snaps and Zatanna crosses her arms.

"You should not fight fire with fire," Kaldur says. "Guns are not the answer to everything. It seems that you humans are firm believers in that."

"Phase Two is called Phase _Two _for a reason," Director Prince says. "S.H.I.E.L.D will always attempt to organize peace first, like I tried to do when Klarion first landed. He repaid me by kidnapping Kid Flash and Dr. Adam Strange, both of whom we don't even know are still breathing." Artemis flinches, though no one notices. "If we cannot negotiate peace, then we will have to resort to fighting for our lives."

"I'd thought humans were more evolved than this," Kaldur sighs.

"I thought so too. It looks like we were both wrong," M'gann says.

"No one went to Mars and started destroying towns," Zatanna responds.

"That's because humans don't have the technology," Raquel's tone is somewhat mocking.

"Some of us do," Zatanna says offhandedly, "And I'm pretty sure that just subjects those who have advanced tech to _unlawful _surveillance."

"Don't be so ignorant. S.H.I.E.L.D monitors all potential threats," Artemis crosses her arms.

"Mars is not a potential threat!" M'gann insists.

"Threat or not, we're all monitored," Artemis is blunt, "Even I'm monitored and I've worked for S.H.I.E.L.D since I was a teenager."

"Really?" Dick says, "You're on that list? I don't think I believe that, Artemis. Especially since you seem to be trained to fight all of us."

"A necessary precaution," Artemis says. "If one of you goes rogue, then S.H.I.E.L.D will be able to level the threat."

"You?" Dick says. "Don't you mean us?"

"Yeah, actually. I do."

"What are we going to do with Klarion?" Conner demands. The arguing stops at his booming voice and all turn to him. "Because I think he doesn't deserve to live."

"No," M'gann says, "He must answer for his crimes on Mars."

"What about his crimes on Earth?" Dick says.

"Maybe his answer for his crimes _should _be his death," Raquel says.

"We cannot answer violence with violence. He should go to be tried for his crimes on Mars," Kaldur says.

"But he should be tried for his crimes on Earth first," Artemis insists.

"So he can just escape again? Kill more people?" Zatanna says. "Maybe we should think about the many over the few."

"We cannot justify murder by murder. We must rise above it. Klarion needs to face justice," Kaldur insists again but no one seems to want to listen, especially when they all stop arguing again.

"Conner," Artemis says suddenly, the tone of her voice making everyone stop. "Put down the staff." Somewhere in the midst of the argument, Conner picked it up. The glowing end is brighter than Kaldur has ever seen it. Conner quickly puts it back on the table, his expression something akin to horror. The room is silent as everyone stares at the staff.

Suddenly, the Helicarrier jolts, knocking all of the occupants of the room off their feet. Red lights begin to flash and an alarm sounds.

Across the ship, Klarion smiles at the oncoming anarchy. "Here, kitty kitty," he sings.


	4. Part IV

**Suddenly, the Helicarrier jolts, knocking all of the occupants of the room off their feet. Red lights begin to flash and an alarm sounds.**

The occupants of the lab pull themselves up carefully, holding onto objects within their reach. Kaldur pulls himself up heavily on a table, taking Artemis' upper arm and helping her up too. The room has only just recovered when the ship teeters again but they catch themselves this time. Kaldur catches Dick's elbow when he stumbles and waits for him to steady before letting go.

"Hey there, beautiful. Miss me?" Kaldur doesn't recognize the voice that comes over the intercom, but judging by the way Artemis stiffens beside him and Dick's neck almost snaps with how fast he looks up, they do. Everyone turns their attention to the window, which overlooks the flight deck and its wall of glass.

There's a helicopter outside, the pilot wearing obnoxious yellow and red Kevlar. He salutes them lazily, then flies up and out of the view of the window. Without another word, Prince turns on her heel and runs out of the lab, towards the flight deck. Everyone follows her without waiting a second.

"We've lost an engine," Wayne is saying to Prince, walking with her. "It's been shot out. We'll be fine as long as we don't lose another engine."

The helicarrier shakes again and there's more shouting amongst the workers on the flight deck. Some jump and run to help others while even more dash out of the room. Still, there's an organization to the chaos. Like they've planned for this. Especially since everyone seems to know where they're going and what to do.

"Let me guess," Prince says, "That's the second engine." Wayne nods once after typing on the tablet he holds.

"I could fix one, if I had help," Dick says.

"I could use a spell for the other," Zatanna volunteers.

"Whatever you do, do it quickly," Wayne says, "Or the third engine will burn out and we'll be in real trouble."

Kaldur turns to his team, plan forming as he speaks, "Alright. Nightwing, Rocket, you go fix the starboard engine. Zatanna, you go to the port side. Artemis, Superboy, I want you to go onto the roof and get Kid Flash in here. Miss Martian, come with me. We're going to guard Klarion."

...

When Zatanna reaches the roof, the helicarrier is already falling. It's tilting back and forth ferociously, the final engine struggling to keep the helicarrier flying. Whole aircrafts are sliding off, plunging to the sea below. The wind is so strong she's nearly knocked off her feet, but she just mutters a spell under her breath and her feet are anchored to the ground.

Zatanna closes her eyes and tries to concentrate, her mind almost as rattled the ship. Gunfire fills the air and Zatanna's eyes fly open, all concentration that she'd scraped together slipping from her fingertips. She dives forward from instinct, sliding across the roof on her stomach to avoid the bullets as they rain down on her. Unfortunately, the helicarrier suddenly tilts and Zatanna overshoots it. She slides right off the roof.

She's free falling, and she's sure her stomach is falling faster than she is. Zatanna spins in midair and she can't open her eyes because the wind is hitting her too hard, slapping her with every gust and pushing her in each wind stream. She doesn't know up from down and left from right or North from South or East from West, she's spinning too fast and feels like she's falling in all four directions. Zatanna's own hair beats her face as she tries to get herself steady enough for a spell.

Zatanna forces out a long, controlled breath, and opens her fists. She lets her body go and tries to relax. Zatanna falls back first as she focuses her mind, clearing it of all thoughts except for one word.

"ETATIVEL!" She screams at the top of her lungs, her voice stolen by the wind. But her magic hears her, like Zatanna knows it would. She trusts her magic (it was a hard lesson to learn but she did it).

Zatanna stops falling with a jolt and she breathes hard, swallowing the bile in her throat. She looks up. "Raos," she says breathlessly. Zatanna shoots back up, towards the falling helicarrier.

The magician lands with a roll on the roof, standing gracefully and repeating another spell to anchor her feet to the roof, a stronger one this time, so she feels like her feet are encased in cement.

As the helicopter comes back for more, Zatanna turns to face it. She is about to cast a spell when she sees a figure at the far end pop halfway out of a hatch on the roof. It must be Artemis because the figure lifts a bow and shoots, landing an arrow in the propellers. The helicopter begins to fall, a figure leaping out. Zatanna sticks out a hand.

"HCTAC MIH!" She yells, and the speedster's jump from the helicopter to the tilted surface of the helicarrier is cushioned. Kid Flash stands and runs to the hatch Artemis has just disappeared through, becoming nothing but a blur. Zatanna turns back to the task at hand.

She stands up again, and concentrates. Her eyes fall closed and she presses her palms together. Zatanna takes in a breath and fills her lungs; her hair flies around her, making some kind of wild halo. She focuses all her energy and all her magic on one word, written backwards in her mind before she knows what it is forwards. When her eyes open again, they're burning cyan coloured light.

"Lrihw," Zatanna commands the propeller in the engine. She holds her hands out and the propeller does as she says and begins to spin.

...

Kaldur and M'gann make their way to Klarion's kennel at a run. The alarm continues to blare above them, the lights keep flashing red. The ship tilts and both hit the wall of the narrow hallway, but that isn't the first time it's happened and they both just get back up and start to run again.

"Intruder alert," the alarm sudden adds, "Intruder alert. Security breach in docking bay, repeat security breach in docking bay. A large...cat monster is attacking crew members. All available personnel report for offensive attack immediately."

"Docking bay? We don't have anyone there!" Miss Martian says, skidding to a halt with Kaldur.

"You go," Aqualad commands, "I'll take care of Klarion."

"Are you sure?" M'gann asks. Kaldur nods.

"Go." M'gann nods then turns to the next wall and shoots through it.

Aqualad continues to the holding cell. When he arrives, he finds Klarion is sitting in his cell on the floor, grinning with glee.

"Are you all?" Klarion asks. "All they send to keep a Lord of Chaos caged?" Kaldur nods after skidding to a stop. He approaches the glass, winded.

"I am afraid so." He gestures to the door, "Is this your rescue mission?"

"Rescue mission?" Klarion says. He laughs, high and loud. "This isn't a rescue mission, Aqualad." Suddenly, the voice jumps from the cell to directly behind him. "This is an ambush," he whispers in his ear. Before Kaldur can even realize the trick, Klarion shoves his head against the glass, subduing him long enough for Klarion to throw Kaldur inside his prison.

Kaldur sits up, the world spinning, only to see Klarion slamming the door. Klarion opens the hatch below and Kaldur looks down, then back up at Klarion.

"Don't do this, Klarion," Aqualad warns, hands flat against the glass.

Klarion smiles and tilts his head back and forth, as if considering. He pauses, "I think I will."

"You will regret this."

Klarion waves, "Have a nice trip." He presses the button and the cell drops.

Kaldur slams into the side of the cell, then the top, then the bottom. He hits all the sides as he falls, knocking hard against it from impact and sending spider web cracks through the glass. Kaldur finally catches himself between the wall and floor, forcing his limbs hard against it to stay as still as possible. They shake with effort. He takes out a water bearer, then focuses all he has into smashing out the glass on one side. It's slow, hard work. The glass cracks like ragged fingers, cracking and reaching across the wall. When he finally has a hole big enough, Kaldur jumps out.

The container hits the cliff hard. So hard that the cage cracks and smashes in half, then plunges off the edge and onto the rocky waters below. Kaldur falls away from the cliffs and towards the ocean, heels over head and arms in a triangle, prepared for the dive. Hitting the surface hurts, but Kaldur has felt worst. When he resurfaces and looks up, the helicarrier is starting to teeter towards the land, not falling as quickly as it did, but still losing air fast.

Kaldur's not worried about himself, how he will probably have to scale the cliffs. The water will only give him strength and he has climbed cliffs before. His worry is up in the sky, for the others up in the helicarrier.

...

Nightwing and Rocket arrive at their propeller at the same moment that Kaldur and M'gann turn their first corner to get to Klarion and Zatanna climbs onto the roof.

They screech to a stop at the engine, which is half burned and spitting out sparks from whatever hit it. It's in much worse condition than Zatanna's, half the roof missing around it in ragged, sharp bits that stick out at odd angles.

Nightwing goes first, somehow climbing around the wreckage to the control panel. He rips what's left of the cover off and drops it off the edge, then plugs in his wrist computer to it without looking down.

"Rocket! I need to reprogram it!" Nightwing yells after typing.

"So what do I do?!" Raquel responds, holding onto the metal above her head to prevent herself from being thrown from the aircraft.

"You get to push the propeller!" Dick responds, pointing. Rocket looks at it and nods.

She flies out and braces her hands against the propeller. "Ready?" She yells over the wind. Dick gives her a thumbs up and she starts to push.

The weight of it is immense, and it takes a large amount of effort to push it at first. Raquel presses her entire body weight on it until it starts moving, inching along slowly. Once it starts picking up speed, the propeller gets lighter from its momentum. But then Raquel is faced with a new problem: she needs to keep up.

Mentally, Rocket dares it to do its worst, which really isn't the best thing to do but hey, carpe diem, right? (Virgil warned her about watching _Dead Poets' Society_ before going on missions).

Dick's yelling something, but she can't hear him over the wind and the whistling of the propeller. She guesses it's somewhere the lines of "Rocket, get out of there!". Well, _duh_, is her mental response.

Rocket makes herself focus and takes in a breath. She spins around three more times, her brain half mush from nausea, then she lets go. Raquel flies up as fast as she can, a purple sphere protecting her in case she doesn't make it, though she does.

Raquel floats above it, breathing hard. She sends a crooked grin at Dick, who shakes his head and grins. She can see how tightly he's holding the side of the helicarrier.

"You're crazy," he says once she's close enough to hear him.

"You're the one who likes jumping off buildings," Raquel says, hand on her hip.

She flies up to him and holds out a hand, "What do you say we go help the others?" Dick grins and nods, accepting her help across the half missing walkway to get back inside.

...

Artemis and Conner bolt down the hallway, towards the hatch that Kid Flash was seen nearest to. Conner waits at the bottom while Artemis climbs a ladder with a shouldered bow, holding onto a pole with white knuckles as Zatanna soars back to the helicarrier. Conner thinks she must find the hatch heavy, because she has to force it open with a shoulder.

Conner watches her aim a single arrow and fire. She readies herself with another, but is interrupted when the helicarrier jolts. Conner sees Artemis fall from the ladder while he takes a fall himself too.

On his way down, his head hits the safety pole of the walkway. The pain isn't what blinds him.

Conner grips the edge of the walkway, trying desperately to fight it, but he already feels himself slipping away. His heart rate picks up and his body feels hot all over. His eyes try to shut themselves but Conner fights with all he can to keep them open because he knows what will happen next. He tries to warn Artemis, to shout at her to get away, but she's frozen, staring with wide eyes.

Conner's eyes shut. When he opens them, all he sees is red.

Conner isn't Conner anymore and he feels this white hot rage that burns and pricks his skin, branding him with one command, over and over again: kill.

He sees things in red and heat, living beings burning bright like fire, he hears shouts of people all over the ship, the beating of their hearts in their chests. He smells the blood in their veins.

This rage, this storm of fury, cracks and explodes within him. It consumes him and makes him her slave, makes him want to find the first thing with a pulse and rip it to shreds with his bare hands. He wants to feel its warm blood spatter across his skin. He wants to feel their heart stop. Superboy looks up and finds exactly what he's looking for.

She has hair like the sun. Superboy hates the sun. She's much smaller than him, lying on the ground in his reach. Superboy can smell her fear and hear her heart, beating like a rabbit's. There's a cut on her chin that's still weeping and Superboy watches her blood trail its way down her chin and onto her clothing. He can smell the metallic aroma of it.

"Conner. Conner, it's me. Artemis," she says slowly, "You know, the one who dragged you halfway across the world." She doesn't so much as twitch, as if movement could make him decide to kill her. She doesn't know that he's already made that decision.

Superboy doesn't understand her words, just hears them like they are some kind of foreign language. He doesn't like the sound. Superboy lets out a low growl. A warning. The girl still doesn't flinch, staring at him without blinking.

"Conner, don't make me hurt you," he doesn't like the sound of her voice again, or the tone it's taken. It's her own kind of growl, a threat, and that makes him angry because he is the predator and she is the prey. Prey isn't supposed to fight back. Especially not with him.

Superboy doesn't stand because he can sense that she's faster. She is the rabbit and he is the wolf; he has superior strength and senses and power. She has speed. Instead of risking her running, he shoots out an arm to grab her. It's his first mistake.

The prey stabs him, right through his palm, and is already up and bolting down the hall by the time Superboy pulls out the arrow. He lets out a ferocious yell, standing and chasing after her.

On his way down, he steps on a quiver and crushes it and all arrows inside. He hardly notices the blood dripping from his hand.

The prey is faster, much faster, but his strides are larger, so much larger that he practically flies with each bound. The prey looks back every so often, checking his progress. She looks terrified every time she does, and Superboy starts to like the hunt.

He runs down a glass hallway, smashing the walls as he goes. The glass rains down on both of them and the prey tries to cover her head while Superboy doesn't so much as flinch. Instead, he yells again and the prey picks up the pace.

She runs into a room with that's filled with more prey, and she lets out a scream.

"MOVE! RUN! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" She makes more sounds he doesn't understand and the other prey runs out of the way. Superboy hardly notices; his eyes are set on her.

The prey trips and skids across the floor, rolling until she hits the wall. Superboy slows to a walk and his prey scrambles to sit up, sinking against the wall. Her breathing is erratic and her heart is going even faster than before. He raises his fist, ready to bash in her skull and hear her heart stop (the beat annoys him). But something hard slams into him.

Superboy flies off his feet, breaking through a wall. He hits a large box, it shattering behind him. The impact hurts and his temper flares again. He turns to see what hit him.

She's green. She's floating, eyes glowing. She lands and her eyes dim, five feet away. Superboy stands too and runs straight at her.

The green one flies up and out of the way, a knee catching him on the chin. She flies over him and lands on his back, arm around his throat.

"I am your friend, Conner," she says, holding on for dear life as he reaches in vain to grab her. "I don't want to harm you," she says. "Remember me, it's M'gann. Please." Her words aren't for naught. Something in his brain brightens at the word "M'gann" but he doesn't know what it means.

He finally throws her off and she flies towards the wall, but doesn't hit anything and stops herself midair. She rights herself and holds her arms out on either side as he charges her. She claps her hands together and two boxes slam into each side of her, halting Superboy in his tracks.

He stands, pieces of box falling off of him, and rips the wing of a plane nearby, then throws it at her. The green one dives out of the way and the glass window behind her shatters at the bottom, the wing sliding right through. She flies towards him and Superboy reaches out a hand to grab her, but at the last second she flies just out of his reach and past him. She stops in front of the hole he made before and Superboy grabs one of the boxes and spins in a full circle, letting it fly at the green one. She gets hit and flies back, into the wall next to the hole. She slides down it with eyes squeezed tight. When she opens them slowly, she looks up in time to see Superboy stomping towards her. Her eyes widen slightly. The green one waits for him to come closer before she vanishes.

Superboy whips to look left and right, trying to find where she went. Just as he switches to heat vision, she materializes in front of him and her fingers press against his temples.

"Remember," she whispers. It's like someone presses the fast forward button in his mind. He sees M'gann grabbing his face for the first time, M'gann levitating him to the platform, M'gann refusing to look at him. He sees her bathed in the sunset, smiling at him. He sees her telling him that it's nice to meet him, her tone genuine. Conner feels his mind and blinks, stumbling back.

But his vision is still red and he still feels the extra strength in his limbs and knows he could leap from one tip of the ship to another. Conner falls back, landing on his backside with his elbows preventing him from falling back and banging his head.

M'gann opens her mouth to say something, but the ship jerks suddenly and a crate slides forward, slamming into her. She hits the wall then the ground, her head snapping down against the floor. M'gann slides across the floor, leaving a smear of blood behind. She slides all the way to the window and right off of the edge of the ship.

Conner takes the entire hangar in just five large strides, jumping out after her. Her body heat is bright compared to the sky and he dives towards her turning unconscious form, grabbing her. Conner wraps his body around hers, cradling her to his chest and turning around so his back will hit the surface. He wraps an arm around her head to make sure the impact doesn't break her neck and his other hand, the one that's still bleeding from Artemis' arrow, is around the bottom of her ribs. Her back is to his chest.

When they hit the ground, they make a crater. Conner feels the impact and has to lie there for a moment and force his lungs to work. He might be invincible, but he isn't impervious to pain. The impact feels like... well, it feels like he fell thousands of feet and hit the solid ground.

He lies there until M'gann wakes up a few minutes later, blinking slowly up at the sky.

"Are you hurt?" Is the first thing he grunts more than says when he sees her hand move.

"Conner?" she says quietly. "What happened?"

"Are you hurt?" Conner asks.

"No, I'm fine," M'gann says. Conner's eyes are no longer red.

"Good." His bones ache.

...

Artemis breathes unevenly, shaking as she leans against the wall. She sees Miss Martian soar past the hole she just made in the wall with Conner's body but doesn't make any attempt to move. She's not entirely sure if she can.

Artemis doesn't have her bow. Her quiver and all arrows in it were crushed by Conner, except for the kryptonite one she had stabbed him with, which she dropped far behind her. She doesn't even have her crossbow, which is back in her sleeping cell on the other side of the ship. When M'gann had hit Conner, she told Artemis telepathically that she could handle Superboy on her own; she'd been sent there because Teekl was terrorizing the crew but when she arrived, it was gone. Artemis is only just registering the information, her pulse finally quieting so she could understand.

"Artemis, come in," Prince's voice says in her ear bud. Artemis doesn't want to answer it but she does anyways, lifting a shaking hand. She pressed her hand to it.

"I'm here." Her tone shakes a little, stumbling on the first letter. Prince doesn't comment on it.

"Kid Flash has been spotted in the engineering wing." Artemis stands before she can say anything else. She swallows her next shaking breath and forces a steady one out of her lungs.

"I'm on it," Artemis says. She doesn't give her legs the choice to be strong or not, and jogs to the door that will lead her to the engineering wing.

She's walking across a steel grate walkway when she hears footsteps. Artemis recognizes the pattern and jumps up to grab a pole that runs above her, wrapping her legs and arms around it, hanging from it.

Wally's costume is in stealth mode when he passes. He walks with straight posture, an air of purpose surrounding him. Artemis figures that Klarion must've given Wally a mission. He won't complete it though, because Artemis is going to complete hers.

Artemis drops down without sound behind him. He hears her anyways. Wally whirls around and tries to grab her, but Artemis ducks under his hand and twists it behind his back. He stomps on her foot and she releases him. Artemis kicks at him, but Wally catches it and twists it, causing Artemis to twist on one foot with it. She donkey kicks him and he lets go. Artemis whirls around and Kid Flash throws a couple punches. Artemis dodges both and catches his third. He wrenches it out of her grip and pushes her back, causing her to fall. She catches herself by flipping over on one hand. When she lands again, Wally is holding a knife, something that makes something catch in Artemis' throat. He never carries a knife; he doesn't believe in using them. They watch each other for a moment before Artemis makes the first move.

Artemis charges him and Wally stabs out. Artemis grabs his arm with both her hands, holding it straight towards her. She tries to force it down but he's too strong for her and it stays out straight. He tosses the knife up and catches it in his other hand, stabbing out towards her. Artemis grabs the hands and slams it against the pole. Wally cries out, but doesn't let go. He grabs the opposite side of her waist with his free hand and pulls her back against his chest, moving his arm to her neck and lowering the knife to her neck slowly, her hands on his wrist preventing him from going faster.

Artemis throws her head back in his face and bites his arm, causing him to let go and stumble back. Artemis kicks her foot and hits the fist holding his knife, making it fly up. She catches it and throws it behind her, not keen on accidentally hurting him.

Wally advances on her again and Artemis to sweep his feet out from under him. When Wally stands back up, she's gone. He looks down both ends of the walkway, then up, but doesn't find her. As soon as he turns his back again, Artemis slides out from beneath the walkway and back on top.

He turns but Artemis is too fast for him (for once). She throws two punches in a quick succession, then jumps up and spins in midair, kicking him across the face.

Artemis catches him when he falls heavily, unconscious. He hits her shoulder hard and she nearly drops from impact, but she holds tight. Artemis carefully lowers him to the ground and leans him against a pole on the walkway. She checks his pulse to be sure she didn't snap his neck. When she finds it, steady and strong, she lets out a breath.

Artemis leans her forehead against his shoulder for a moment before she cuffs his ankles as a precaution. Then she slings one of Wally's arms across her shoulders and stands, holding his waist in one hand and his hand across her shoulder in the other. Artemis half-carry half-drags him down the walkway.

...

Wally's brain is foggy, his dreams distorted and non-linear. He sees flashes, fleeting images of memory. The colours are saturated, shining and warm.

He sees Dick going in for a first bump after their first mission together as Kid Flash and Robin; his fifteen year old self meeting an annoyingly beautiful agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, minutes before she nearly kicks his ass when he almost blotches her mission _(he's lucky he's fast)_; helping his mother cut coupons for her extreme couponing habit, punishment after almost setting the stove on fire at three a.m. (again); him, his dad, and his uncle, working on the crappy truck he got for his sixteenth; his family (plus a few friends that _are _family) surrounding him on his eighteenth birthday, singing while a cake almost as big as the table is lowered in front of him; he sees Dick's new costume, finger stripes and all; then to Artemis, wearing nothing but his old track jersey and leaning against the doorway, rolling her eyes with a smile.

When Wally finally opens his eyes, the first thing he sees is Artemis, leaning in the doorway. She's wearing her uniform instead of his jersey, hood pulled off and mask on a table in the corner of the room with her wrist guards. She's not smiling, nor rolling her eyes. There's a crease between her eyebrows and her nails are digging into her arms, leaving white marks. Both are two of her little tells that reveal just how worried she is. Wally feels cool air on his face and realizes someone – probably Artemis – has pulled his cowl down behind his head like a hood and his gloves are off, on the table with Artemis' stuff.

When she see's he's awake, she straightens, dropping her arms.

"Hey," she says. It comes out hesitant. She bites her lip.

"Hi," Wally replies with a smile, the one he keeps just for her, but his voice comes out hoarse and his smile feels smaller than normal. He coughs, trying to clear his throat.

Wally tries to sit up further from his position, inclined back a third of the way down. But when he tries to move his arms, he finds them restrained to the bed on either side of him.

Artemis walks across the room to the table where her wrist guards and mask are and picks up a pitcher and cup there, pouring some water for him.

"So, babe," Wally says, "What are the chances that you've got some food on you?" That gets a quiet, breathy laugh out of her and when she turns back to him she strides to his bedside and takes off the restraints. When she leans over him, Wally sees there's new bruises and cuts on her face and hands, a purpling one on her cheekbone and one of her knuckles is split on her left hand. She moves before he can study them more closely. Artemis goes to the table and comes back with the glass of water, and hands it to him. Wally reaches out for hesitantly and takes it slowly. Wally eyes the restraints.

"You sure that was such a good idea, beautiful?" He says as Artemis rummages through her utility belt, which is also on the table. She looks over her shoulder at him.

"You wake up after being mind controlled for days and the first thing you ask for is food? I'm pretty sure you're all right." Wally swings his legs off the bed to make room for her when she comes back, two granola bars in hand. She hands them to him without a word and sits.

Wally devours both bars in half a second and Artemis doesn't bat an eyelash, used to his eating habits after all these years. Wally tries to speak while both granola bars are in his mouth and Artemis rolls her eyes, but there's something fond in it.

"Swallow, West," she says. Wally does as he's told.

"How'd you do that, anyway?" Wally says, "Bring me back from zombie land, I mean? Did you reverse the-" It's like Artemis knows he's about to geek out on her, because she cuts him off.

"I hit you really, _really_ hard." Wally grins. He feels her relax beside him.

"Well, you know, thanks," he says, bumping her shoulder with his lightly so she smiles. Artemis' expression suddenly becomes serious, her eyes searching his face.

"Wally, are you okay?" She asks and Wally knows she sees right through his breezy façade. Now that he thinks about it, Wally can't remember a time he's successfully deceived Artemis.

The archer continues, "Klarion used you as his personal zombie for three days. I wouldn't be okay." Wally knows just how worried she is by the way she reaches over and grabs his hand, sticky from the granola bars, from his lap and squeezes it. She never does this kind of thing while on the clock, especially not while on the helicarrier. "You know you can tell me anything," she says quietly. Wally nods.

"Of course I know that," Wally sighs as he drops his head to her shoulder. "I was kind of hoping you'd forget."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Artemis says quietly, leaning her head on his.

"No, I do. We've never had any secrets before," he says, "We're not going to have any now." He pauses, considering his next words carefully. He whispers them. "How many?"

"Many what?" She whispers back, but Wally thinks she knows what he means.

"How many people did I hurt?"

"Wally," the way she says it kind of kills him. "It wasn't you, Wally. It was Klarion. Don't do that to yourself." Wally nods, getting it. Yeah, he knows he had no control whatsoever over what he did but... it's never good to know that you've hurt someone, possibly even killed someone, and you had no power to stop it.

"It was...terrifying. I was so scared, Artemis," Wally says quietly. "That's...that's really all I remember. I remember running at Klarion and this... this intense _pain _right in the middle of my frontal lobe. Then nothing except that I was _scared_. I'm a superhero, Artemis. I'm not supposed to get scared." Artemis grasps Wally's forearm with her free hand and drags her fingers slowly up the inside of it, knowing it would calm him.

"That's not true and you know it, Wally," Artemis says. "We all get scared. _All _of us. I still panic every time I get a new mission. _Every_ _damn_ _time_. But we keep going because it's the right thing to do. The fear is what keeps us sane. Alive. It keeps us human." Wally watches her thumb run over his knuckles and acknowledges that she's right. Without being scared, they'd get themselves killed. He remembers saying these same words to her a year ago and knows how she felt then. But he also knows how she feels now because he was in her shoes a year ago and he gets he's being slightly ridiculous.

Artemis turns her head and presses a kiss in his hair. Wally lifts his head after and looks at her, then reaches up to brush some of her hair, which is loose around her shoulders, behind her ear. In doing so, he notices dark purple bruising on her neck and he pushes back the rest of her hair, over her opposite shoulder so that he can get a better look.

"What's this?" Wally asks, staring at the bruises that are shaped like hands, wrapped around her neck. Artemis pulls away, pulling her hair back in place.

"It's nothing," she says dismissively and Wally's stomach drops.

"I did that to you, didn't I?" Artemis looks at him and shakes her head.

"Not you, Wally. Klarion. _Klarion_ did this to me." She leans her forehead against his, "Besides. It's an occupational hazard."

"God, I'm so sorry, beautiful." Wally says, feeling the guilt of almost killing _her_. Artemis Crock. The only person in his entire life that's ever been able to keep up. It's not an easy pill to swallow. "Even with _him _in my head, I should've been able to stop myself. _Especially_ from hurting _you _of all-"

"Wally, listen to me. This. Is. Not. Your. Fault. Besides, I'm pretty sure I hurt you more than you hurt me. Don't apologize for something that's not your fault. _Never _do that, okay?" Wally nods against her. "I love you," she says and it feels amazing hearing it. He already feels better.

"I love you too," Wally responds. They both lean in.

* * *

**I just loooooved writing this, especially the Conner stuff. Review please!**

**-RV **


	5. Part V

**This chapter is basically entirely action so I hope it's not too repetitive. It's also the last chapter of the fic, so I really hope you guys enjoyed it! I really do appreciate every one of you, whether you review and favourite and message or just read the story and move on. Thanks so much again!**

**-RV**

* * *

By the time Artemis and Wally meet the others in the conference room an hour later, they've already picked up Kaldur and Conner. Dick has a comment on the tip of his tongue but when he spots the choke marks around Artemis' neck and the deep purple bruise that spreads across Wally's chin and cheek, he swallows it back down.

Prince called them all to meet in there ten minutes ago and ironically, she's the only one who isn't present. Kaldur is leaning against the wall opposite of Dick and Zatanna and Raquel are seated at the table. M'gann and Conner are also at the table, M'gann bandaging a wound on Conner's hand. No one looks at each other in the face, too ashamed of their respective failures.

Wally and Artemis walk over and stop to stand next to Dick, Artemis leaning back against the glass wall. Dick and Wally perform the handshake they made up when they first met and Artemis rolls her eyes at the pair. The sound of their hands breaks the silence in the room, and everyone looks up at them.

"Good to have you back, buddy," Dick says.

"Good to be back," Wally responds with a grin.

Artemis uses her chin to indicate Conner's hand, "Sorry about that."

Conner looks up from M'gann's bandaging job, "Sorry about almost crushing your skull."

"Call ourselves even?" Artemis suggests. Conner nods. "This is Kid Flash," Artemis says next, addressing the entire room as she tilts her head towards Wally. She points to each person in turn as she introduces them, "That's Rocket, Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Superboy. You know Zatanna and Nightwing."

Wally walks forward to shake hands with each of them, having a comment for everyone. "Nightwing, I know you. You're kind of a Dick." Dick laughs. You'd think that joke would get old after a while. "Aqualad, king of Atlantis, right? Heard you can manipulate water too, pretty badass if I do say so myself. Zatanna, still kicking ass and taking names, I presume. Rocket, heard about your manipulation of kinetic energy, I'd love to talk about that sometime because, you know, _science._ Miss Martian, heard about that town last year. Let me just say, _holy shit that's wicked_. You know, in a terrifying, completely kickass way. Superboy, big fan of how you can turn into a angry rage monster." When he gets to Artemis, he takes her hand and kisses her knuckles instead and says, "Artemis, still beautiful and the biggest badass I know, as always." Artemis rolls her eyes.

Somehow, the tension in the room is lifted by Wally's goofy introductions. The atmosphere is lighter, friendlier. They aren't all too ashamed to look at each other again. Some even exchange smiles or glances.

Wally has that effect on people. He can make anyone smile, stranger or not, and is probably the most lovable, goofy guy that Dick knows.

Dick decides that he's really glad Wally's back. It feels like everything's in balance again, especially when Kid Flash goes to flick Artemis' ponytail and she elbows him in the stomach. But the way that Artemis lets Kid Flash lean an arm on her shoulder shows how worried she was for him and it hits Dick again with how easily his best friend was almost lost.

Kaldur stands once Kid Flash finishes his introductions and closes the door. "I have a confession to make: Prince did not call this meeting. I did. We need to regroup. When we were fighting in the lab before, none of us were in the right mind. I certainly did not mean what I said, and I believe that none of you did either."

Dick nods, "Klarion's scepter was affecting us, making us angrier than we were."

"He planned it," M'gann says. "He was trying to fracture our team, wasn't he?"

"I believe so," Kaldur says. "Because he knows that the only way for him to win is to eliminate the Avengers."

"If he wanted to divide and conquer he could've done it easily," Zatanna says. "We were sitting ducks, like it or not. All he had to do was kill the third engine."

"Why didn't he do it then?" Conner asks, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.

Raquel shakes her head, "He's too much of a drama queen for that. This is a game to him. He'd never let it be over so easily."

"So what was this, the first act?" Artemis asks.

"Exactly," Kaldur says.

"We need to ban together as a team," M'gann says. "Or we'll end up tearing each other apart while Klarion takes over."

"Yeah, no more of this macho bullshit," Rocket agrees. "We've all been too worried about standing out as individuals that we're forgetting to work together."

"Then I say we vote for a team leader," Artemis says, "Someone to remind us to get ourselves together." When everyone murmurs their agreement, she continues. "I vote Aqualad. When he gave orders, everyone listened to them. And he accounted for our strengths: sending me off to get the guy whose weaknesses I've known since I was sixteen, Dick and Raquel's team up. M'gann saved my ass after he sent her, knowing it would happen or not."

"I second that," Dick says, nodding. "He probably has the most leading experience out of all of us anyways. Who's for it, raise their hand." Everyone raises their hand without hesitation.

"It's decided then. Aqualad's our new leader," Conner says.

"I am very flattered with his honor. I will do my best not to let you down," Kaldur says, bowing his head.

"Now, back to Klarion," Zatanna says, "Before he tries to get our attention again, like back in Germany."

Wally starts to speak, "Klarion's a drama queen, right? And if this was only the first act can you imagine what he's actually planning? He wants fire and death and terror. He _wants_ chaos," he says, "He'll chose somewhere in the public eye. Maybe somewhere that he knows one of us is connected to. Somewhere big with a large population and monuments built high in the sky that he can burn...Son of a bitch. I know where he's going."

They take two modes of transport. Kid Flash, Nightwing, Zatanna, and Artemis take a helicopter while Miss Martian, Superboy, Rocket, and Aqualad get in M'gann's Bioship and head off at once, ignoring the warnings over the intercom that they aren't authorized for departure.

They're lucky they're so close to Connecticut.

...

Dr. Adam Strange, eyes made of crystal, stands on top of Wayne Tower and fiddles with a large metal device. He adjusts the different settings on the machine before placing the tesseract inside with the kind of care you'd reserve for a newborn.

The doctor returns to the controls and flips a few more buttons and the tesseract is sudden lifted in the machine, suspended by blue light just as magnificent as that that comes out of itself. Strange's eyes take on a captivating glow. It won't be long now.

...

Artemis and Dick fly the helicopter closer to Wayne Tower with caution, Wally and Zatanna behind them, watching the progress.

"You know the plan?" Dick asks for what must be the thousandth time since they came up with it.

"I've got it, Dick," Wally says, pulling up his cowl. "I know what I'm doing." The helicopter settles over the tower, where Strange is working away on the top. There's some kind of blue energy field surrounding him and the device that holds the tesseract. They pull the helicopter to the side of the building, where Klarion is standing and waiting for them on the deck.

"You be careful," Artemis says, and it comes out as a warning and a demand, "Be in and out in three minutes time, or I'm coming in to get you."

"I'd expect nothing less, babe," Wally says before leaning down to kiss her cheek. He's already in the back of the helicopter when Artemis looks back at him. He smiles. "Wish me luck?"

"Good luck," she says. Dick opens the door and Wally leaps out, landing on the deck in a roll more graceful than the ones he usually executes (Barry, who taught him that move when he was just a teenager, would've been proud). He stands and looks inside, where Klarion has settled himself on a couch, scepter in hand. Wally hears the helicopter retreating and doesn't look back, walking towards the door coolly. Kid Flash stands tall.

He has to keep him busy for three minutes while Zatanna attempts to break through the force field. Just three minutes he has to hold out; Wally isn't too scared. He knows he can talk for a lot longer than three minutes. He just isn't sure Klarion will listen for that long.

"Please, tell me you've come to beg for your lives. I've always loved begging," Klarion says as soon as he steps in the door.

"Actually," Wally says as he lets the door close behind him, "I've come to threaten yours."

Klarion props his feet up on the table and Wally looks for the cat carefully out of the corner of his eye. "Oh this will be good," Klarion laughs.

Wally walks away from the door and doesn't take his eyes off Klarion or the scepter in his hands, not even as he walks to the bar and pours himself a drink. "Drink?" He offers. Klarion shakes his head and Wally shrugs, pouring himself a scotch on the rocks. Dick won't like that he's using the expensive stuff, but Wally figures he earned it.

"I'm curious to hear what you have to threaten me with," Klarion says. "Your little team? Because last I checked, they all hated each other."

Wally smiles and walks leisurely around the counter, sipping his drink. "Nothing a little Flash therapy can't fix," he says. "I wouldn't call the Avengers _little _either. That's what we call each other, by the way: _the Avengers_. Nice ring to it, don't you think?" He says the name with zeal.

"And I should fear you?" Klarion giggles, "That's cute."

"Yeah, you should. Fear us, I mean," Wally says. "Because, really, our starting lineup's pretty impressive. Let's do a quick headcount here: yours truly, the fastest man alive, a _beautiful_ yet rather _snarky_ master assassin, the wonder detective, an Atlantean king, the most powerful magician alive, a cloned super soldier, the champion of Mars, and a kickass fighter. And you've managed to piss off each and every one of them," Wally takes a drink, "You know, I think I like our odds."

"You think that can stop me?" Klarion says, standing. "A Lord of Chaos?" Wally nods easily.

"Earth's mightiest heroes, working together to defend earth?" He says. "I think we can."

"I have an army."

"We have Superboy." Wally can tell he's starting to irritate him and checks the clock on the wall behind Klarion quickly, nothing more than the shift of his eyes. Klarion is too busy glaring to notice.

"And if you fail? If Earth falls, what will happen?"

"You can be damn well sure we'll avenge it," Wally says. Klarion's standing maybe three feet from him now, facing him. Wally is hyper aware of how brightly his scepter is glowing.

Without warning, Klarion suddenly thrusts his scepter forward, hitting Wally right in the chest and the scepter...does absolutely nothing. Wally smirks.

"One of the perks of being a speedster? Super metabolism. Super metabolism makes for a super immune system, which means whatever to did to me before, can't happen again. Nice try, though. Good technique, I almost didn't even know you were going to come at me." Out of the corner of his eye, he sees his ride approaching. "Well, it's been a good chat, but I've really gotta head out. Planet to protect, you know, same old, same old." Wally shoves his empty cup in the villain's hands before he turns and runs. Klarion doesn't even realize what's happening until he's almost at the window. A jet of blue light streaks past him, but Wally keeps running, shattering the glass window and leaping, arms outstretched. He lands right on Zatanna's flying disc as she zips by, and holds onto the edge tightly.

"You get it?!" Wally yells. Zatanna ducks a streak of blue light before she answers.

"No! The force field is made of pure energy! It's too strong for my spells!" There's a loud boom just as Kid Flash gets to his feet and both look up to see a stunning blue light, shooting up into the sky and making some kind of black hole.

"You up for it?" Kid Flash asks. Zatanna smirks.

"Course I am. Radio it in," Zatanna says, and the disc changes directions to shooting up instead of forward as Wally presses in his com.

"This is Kid Flash. I'm fine, and so is Zatanna, but we're going to be taking a bit of a detour!"

"Yeah, we saw it," Artemis replies. "Nightwing and I are preparing for ground assault. Getting civilians in the subway."

"I will meet you on the ground," Kaldur says, "Rocket, I want you to aid Zatanna and Kid Flash. Superboy, help us on the ground too. Miss Martian-"

"I'm going after Klarion," she interrupts. Wally looks down to see the alien rushing Wayne tower, just a streak of green and blue that's heading straight for Wayne Tower.

"Very well," Aqualad says, "Kid Flash, I think you could be of best asset on the ground, helping civilians."

"I agree. Zat, can you send me down?" Kid Flash says. Her eyes glow bright blue and he says something he can't hear over the wind. The disc splits in half and the half that Wally's on speeds to the ground while Zatanna's continues in the opposite direction.

...

M'gann shoots up to the tower and sees Klarion on the deck, watching his army pour through the black hole as Rocket and Zatanna try to slow its progress with a series of flashes and explosions.

"Klarion!" She screams to get his attention, halting to float before him, eyes glowing. Klarion turns to look at her. "You can still turn yourself in, stop this madness, and answer for your crimes both here and on Mars! You can still do the right thing!" This is said out of kindness, not duty. The Lord of Chaos throws it back in her face.

Klarion laughs, "Stop this madness? Why would I want to do that?"

"Then you brought this upon yourself, Klarion," she says before making all the glass surrounding him explode, and knocking him off his feet. When he stands, M'gann uses her telepathy to pull the safety railing out of the deck and make it soar towards him, knocking him back through the only intact window. M'gann flies after him.

She watches his still form in the wreckage and is about to turn when she hears something to her left. She turns in time to see the real Klarion shoot her with a burst of blue light and it burns her side where it made contact. M'gann is knocked across the room from the impact, flying into and denting the elevator doors with her collision.

Klarion stands slowly from where he fell before, wiping the dust from his suit, wincing like he's more worried about it than himself. M'gann stands too, leaning on the elevator doors and looking at Klarion angrily. When he turns to her, he smiles.

"Aren't you a little..._small_ to be the champion of Mars?"

M'gann takes the challenge. She floats up and it's not just her eyes that are glowing anymore. She's surrounded by an aura of green, some kind of halo of power, and her hair is blowing around her in a wind that seems to come from nowhere. Everything in the room begins to rattle, anything smaller than a lamp taking flight.

"Am I?" M'gann asks.

...

"TUP A DIL NO TI!" Zatanna yells, hands out. A golden cap materializes and settles itself over the wormhole, but doesn't last for long, smashing after seconds. Rocket takes two giant purple orbs filled with the creatures and smashes them together, causing a massive explosion that she only just manages to contain in the orbs.

"This isn't working!" Zatanna yells after casting another spell, "Too many are getting through!"

"Hear that Aqualad?" Raquel yells through her com, only just managing to throw up a shield in time to protect herself from sudden rain of lasers from the aliens' guns.

"Understood. Come to the ground, we'll take our stand here," his deep voice responds. Rocket makes one final orb and Zatanna holds her hands out to it.

"Edolpxe," she says and the entire thing blows, but they're halfway to the ground by the time it does.

Zatanna's disc disappears as soon as she steps to the ground. The streets are already half blown apart; dust covers everything and everyone and Kid Flash is carrying a couple kids away from a collapsing building when she lands.

He hands one of the crying children to Artemis, who runs with him while Dick covers them, shooting twin guns at any near aliens. Zatanna joins him, covering the two heroes as they hand the children to their parents then hurry them down the subway entrance.

Zatanna just begins to wonder where Kaldur is when she spots him down the street next to a broken fountain, water shooting up and out of it, knocking over aliens on flying carriages and sending them to smash into buildings.

Conner flies by on a carriage, pulling the alien off it and dropping it over the edge before following it, creating a crater where he lands.

"M'gann, we need you down here," Kaldur's voice says in the com.

"On my way," she responds in their ears, and she sounds almost winded.

...

Up in Wayne Tower, M'gann shoots out of the building and onto the deck, watching Klarion stand to follow. His legs shake from her previous attacks.

"Running away already?" He teases. M'gann just shakes her head and points up. Klarion looks up just in time to see the floor of the next level collapse down on him, courtesy of a combination of strategic foundation destruction and Miss Martian's telepathy.

The Martian doesn't wait another moment and flies down to meet her friends on the streets. It isn't difficult to find them; the Avengers aren't exactly discreet.

Rocket and Zatanna's last explosion seems to have slowed the aliens for a moment, and the team takes a quick breather. Kaldur seizes the moment to dish out assignments.

"Kid Flash, you're on civilian duty. Save any you find. Fight the aliens when you can, but civilians are your priority. Artemis, you'll be on a skyscraper shooting; you'll be our eyes. Take out any stragglers and tell us of any patterns you see. Miss Martian, Rocket, take to the air. Take out the carriages and any ships they bring through; turn them to ash. Zatanna, Nightwing, I want both of you on the ground. And Conner," Superboy turns to him, eyes red. Conner isn't completely sure who these people are, but he has a very black and white way of seeing things that makes it easy to distinguish who is who. The green one taught it to him on her big ship: humans and avengers good, aliens with guns bad. "Smash," Kaldur says and Conner smiles.

"What about you?" M'gann asks.

"I will be heading to the shore," Kaldur says, "They're been dropping pods into the water there."

Everyone splits off to their respective jobs; Kaldur hitches a ride in a purple orb to the shore, Zatanna and Dick run off down the street to an approaching fleet, Rocket shoots up into the air towards a cluster of carriages, Conner simply runs at a second fleet and barrels straight through it, and Kid Flash heads for the busier districts.

"Need a lift?" Miss Martian asks Artemis, who nods. The girls grasp each other's forearms and M'gann lifts her up, flying with Artemis hanging vertically beneath her while M'gann's own body is horizontal. She drops Artemis off on the nearest roof then soars to help Raquel.

...

Aqualad faces the shore, watching the approaching alien army with an air of harmony. His breathing is even, his heart beat calm. His hands are steady. The King of Atlantis feels strong. He is as ready as he will ever be.

Not many pods were dropped into the water before, maybe five or six, and each only has about twenty soldiers inside. The aliens do not seem to know what to make of the water, stumbling and splashing awkwardly and ungracefully. Some have adopted a slow technique, sliding their feet carefully, moving at a snail's pace. Others have adopted brute force, trying to run through the water; most of these fall quickly. Some do not get up again. They remind him of, for lack of a better metaphor, fish out of water. They flop and they fall and their weapons don't seem to be able to repel the liquid. Whenever an alien spots Kaldur and tries to take a shot, the gun explodes or shoots water or shoots out of the wrong end. Many learn that lesson the hard way.

Kaldur knows this won't take long. Maybe it's a grim thought but it's true. He grew up channelling the dark depths of the ocean; he could take down these monsters with his eyes closed, even if they were familiar with water. The aliens seem to have caught onto that too, because they've stopped sending pods into the water altogether.

Once he is finished here he will be able to join the others and help them in the streets. _Poseidon knows they need it_ is what the young king thinks as he looks to the sky and sees the black hole, hundreds of aliens flying out, like black flies to blood.

Kaldur approaches the water and walks into it without hesitation. He feels the strength brush into his body with each gentle lap that reaches him from the aliens' struggling. The water is calm today, but it won't be for much longer; not with his battle to be fought.

As he draws his water bearers, he thinks of a girl with a heart braver and kinder than his. He thinks of the injustice of someone so good's premature death, and he lets it make him angry.

Not many know it, but Kaldur's calm hides a storm.

...

Nightwing swings the stolen alien gun to aim at the creatures that are on the buildings, shooting them all down. Then he whirls around and faces Zatanna, shooting at her. She holds out her hands and yells.

"YFINGAM DNA NRUT!" And the beam becomes ten times larger, redirecting itself to take out the first three lines of an approaching squad.

Nightwing spins around again and shoots at a telephone pole, knocking it over and crushing a line of approaching aliens. He takes a running start at a car and leaps onto it, dropping his gun in favour of jumping up and grabbing a hanging sign. Dick spins around it and uses the momentum to fly down and slam two aliens in the chest with his feet, knocking both clean over. He draws his escrima sticks as he runs, aiming for the neck, face, and chest.

Dick runs and jumps, catching an alien around the head with his thighs, and brings him down, landing in a somersault. He puts his escrima sticks away and keeps running, grabbing onto a light post to swing around it horizontally and knock over another alien with his legs before landing. Dick draws his sticks again and pauses for a breather, watching the foot soldiers walk towards him cautiously.

Their hesitation gives Nightwing the time to see carriages coming towards him, but they aren't being led by a soldier. Dick calls out to Zatanna.

"ZAT, I'M HITCHING A RIDE UP!"

She looks over her shoulder to see him point at the carriage holding Klarion. She nods once then turns back to the pack that's descending upon her. Dick runs at the aliens, but at the last second he jumps up, kicking off a building for leverage, and lands on a carriage.

It's not the one he was aiming for. The gunner turns to him, but Dick punches it and it falls off the carriage easily. Then he leaps onto the driver's back before it can realize what's happened, and digs two small blades into its shoulders, feet holding him up on the alien's hips.

The alien screeches but when Dick turns the blades, it gets the message and turns the carriage. Nightwing is hot on Klarion's tail by the time the Lord of Chaos looks back and sees him from his front carriage. He smiles.

Klarion turns sharply but Dick just matches him, gaining more air. When Klarion turns back again, Nightwing is in jumping distance.

He leaps off his carriage, taking his knives with him, and attaches himself to Klarion's back, arm around his neck. Klarion digs an elbow up his ribs and Dick lets go. Klarion turns and punches, but Nightwing dodges it and gets similar results when he tries to punch the Lord of Chaos. Klarion spins and hits Nightwing with his scepter, a hard blow to take. But Dick roles with it and grabs the scepter; the men wrestle over it until Dick pushes it back and knocks Klarion in his face. The crunch tells Dick he broke his nose. The scepter flies off the carriage, landing on the patio of Wayne Tower. But neither see what happened, or even notice that it's gone.

Klarion finally lands a punch to the gut on Dick, then boxes him in the ear. Dick staggers and Klarion kicks him, knocking him over the edge. Nightwing just manages to catch the back edge and holds on tight.

Klarion tries to stomp on his fingers but he just adjusts his grip, which is easy enough now but he can't keep it going forever. Nightwing spots an archer on the roof of a nearby building and takes a second to wonder at his luck.

"Artemis! A little help!" He says in the com.

"I've got your back, Nightwing," she says. Dick sees an arrow fly towards them and Klarion turns, lightning fast. He catches the arrow in midair, just above his heart.

"You might want to let go," Artemis says in his ear. Dick swings himself off the carriage and through the empty glass wall of an office building, shot out a second before by a green arrow. Dick slides across the ground before he rolls to a stop on the other side of the room. He lies on the ground a moment, trying to catch his breath. Dick looks back in time to see the arrow blow and the carriage become engulfed in flames.

"Nightwing, status," Artemis says.

Dick rises slowly, hands on his knees, "I'm good. Zatanna, I'll be right there," he says. Dick stands straight, cracks his back, then runs back out the window, leaping with his arms outstretched to grab another carriage.

...

_Meow_!

Zatanna turns around, expecting to find another cat to save. Along with fighting aliens and saving civilians, Zatanna has been summoning cages from a nearby pet store and putting any animals she finds inside. Then she sends them off to the subway, where a group of civilians has been gathering them and bringing them down to safety. Prince probably wouldn't approve, but Zatanna finds herself not caring what Prince thinks. She might have respect for the woman, but that doesn't mean she has to like her.

She turns, ready to summon another cage until she sees the origin of the meow. It _is_ a cat. It just doesn't need saving. Because it's about the size of a _shit brick house_.

Zatanna swears, Klarion's cat has gotten even bigger since Germany. It's the size of a short bus now, snarling with slobber dripping down its fangs, making puddles in the street. Zatanna takes one look and it and sighs. She really doesn't feel like fighting a gigantic cat at the moment.

The cat hisses and winds up, butt in the air and tail swaying. Zatanna recognizes the move and prepares to dodge its strike, feeling a little ridiculous (really, the others are off fighting aliens from another galaxy and she gets to deal with a mutant cat? _So_ not fair). The cat pounces and Zatanna dives out of the way at the last second, sliding across the road on her stomach and covering herself in the dust and rubble that's settled there. Zatanna looks up, blue fire in her eyes. Now she's pissed.

Zatanna watches the cat set up for another and stands slowly, fists clenched at her sides. She has to dive out of the way again when it comes near. She slams into a store front, head hitting the display window and hip hitting the brick edge beneath, sending dulls pangs in both areas. A claw catches her on the arm too and draws blood, extending from her shoulder to her elbow. Zatanna doesn't cry out, just draws in a sharp breath and grabs it instinctively. The cat may be big, but it's _fast._

"Tlahpsa ot eci!" Zatanna says and the road the cat is on becomes a skating rink. The cat slides about it, trying to regain its footing without much progress. Teekl smacks its head against the frozen ground and it lets out an annoyed hiss.

Zatanna looks back down at the wound on her arm and uses a spell she's used many a time before, "Naelc dna dnib." She sucks in another sharp breath as she feels the wound get cleaned out, a strip of cloth flying out of the craft store she's leaning on, the cloth tying around her arm.

Wait. Craft store.

Zatanna looks at it thoughtfully, then looks back to the cat. She holds a hand towards the store and mumbles a spell she's never used before and hopes to goodness that it actually works.

The entirety of the shop's yarn flies out of a broken window, twisting and turning around itself until it becomes a large ball, taller than Zatanna herself. The ball rolls out onto the iced street and slides right back the cat. The cat snaps to watch it drift away, then slips and slides in an effort to chase it.

"Really?" Zatanna says, not believing that it actually worked. But she doesn't have long to take get over her surprise; she sees movement out of the corner of her eye and bolts to get the aliens that are currently dragging a civilian down the street. Her hands get a blue glow as she prepares a spell.

...

Superboy runs down the street, after the retreating aliens. He lets out a furious roar and stops to pick up an abandoned car next to him. He holds it up above his head and chucks it, knocking out the line of running aliens.

Conner sees a carriage coming and jumps up, bringing it to the ground with his body weight. He spins twice, arms straight, then releases it so it goes flying into another carriage and explodes.

Superboy's body straightens suddenly, hearing something. He listens closely, trying to tune out the sounds of battle. It sounds...young. Conner blinks, switching to heat vision. He carefully scans the streets until he sees them. There's a small pack of pups, just around the corner. They're yelping for their mothers. Conner takes off without a second thought.

He sees them, cowering in the corner of the steps of an apartment building. One of the pups screams and Superboy has to look around for the reason.

A group of aliens has somehow lifted a bus together, holding it up on their carriages. They zip towards the children and Superboy finally figures out what they're going to do.

In one giant leap, he takes the entire street, landing in front of the pups. His feet hit the pavement hard, making cracked indents that go a couple inches into the pavement.

The aliens throw the bus and it's coming straight for them. It flies through the air and the pups scream. Conner runs and jumps up, catching the bus on his shoulders. He drops to one knee as he bears the weight, sliding backwards from momentum. Conner takes in a deep breath and stands with shaky legs.

"GO!" He barks at the pups, the first human word he's spoken while Superboy. The pups don't hesitate and run for it, ducking behind another apartment's staircase. Superboy lifts the bus up so his arms are straight. Then, he throws it right back at the aliens.

They scramble to dodge the bus and some are hit by it, flattened between the bus and the front of the building behind them as the bus slides down. Superboy stands and looks at the pups, who are peering over the step at him.

Conner has this strange instinct to help the pups, an instinct that overpowers that to go chase after the aliens and tear them limb from limb. He turns away from the aliens and wanders over to the pups, who stare wide eyed at him for a moment. Then, one rushes forward to latch onto his leg in some kind of...embrace.

Conner blinks down, staring in confusion for a second before he reaches down to pat the pup's head. It looks up at him with wide bright eyes and Conner tilts his head, showing it to follow him. The pack follows after him dutifully, gathering in his legs and holding onto his jeans, shirt, and arms.

Somehow, Conner doesn't find himself angry about it. In fact, he's feeling something else. Something he hasn't felt while Superboy before. Something he doesn't have a name for.

...

Rocket flips back in midair, avoiding the gunfire that's aimed at her. Then she stops herself and assess the enemy before shooting forward once again. She dives into the squad of carriages she has teamed up with M'gann to take on.

Rocket soars towards some carriages and surrounds her fists with kinetic energy. She takes out an alien with an easy one-two strike and moves onto the next carriage, knocking both the driver and gunner in the face with a foot bathed in purple. She slips through the rider-less carriages gracefully, shooting towards more carriages, clothes lining the aliens on them.

Rocket watches Miss Martian destroy the last of the two carriages in the pack and barely has time for a breath by the time Artemis' voice is coming through on the com.

"Heads up!" Is all her husky voice says. Since she doesn't specify who, Rocket looks up. Her eyes go straight to the worm hole, and the thing coming out of it. It's a massive ship, larger than any other that's left the hole, and is twisting and turning as it flies, like a snake. It slithers through the air, gracefully spiralling down towards the earth at an alarming rate and suddenly, Raquel remembers why she hates snakes.

The monster machine disappears behind some skyscrapers and Raquel presses her finger to her com, racing towards it. "I'm on it," she says.

"You've got Superboy's support," Artemis answers and Raquel hears the unmistakable _twang _of her bow as she lets an arrow soar.

Rocket turns the corner and sees it, flying slowly towards her. Its great mouth opens larger than would be possible if it had a jaw and foot soldiers dive off the sides, where they'd been holding on on the outside. She sees Superboy on the ground, already ripping them apart. The great beast is metallic and seems to have long, sharp scale-like panels on the sides that make it look even more like a snake than before. Rocket gulps down some of the first fear she's had time to feel this whole battle.

Making up her mind, Raquel surges towards it. "Anyone ever hear of the tale of Jonah?" She asks through the com as she powers towards its open mouth.

A shield of energy materializes around her as she flies straight into its mouth, bursting through the inside, causing sparks to fly and static to erupt and electrical currents to reach and connect ragged fingers. By the time Rocket bursts out the other side, she's burned and scraped and battered but mostly burned. The monster machine is off much worse.

She turns in time to see it hit the side of a skyscraper, burning and twisting, this time in not in grace but in agony before it finally explodes, bursting with pink and yellow flames.

...

The aliens climb along the building like spiders, planting something much more deadly than webs. The bombs blink orange light and let out a high pitched shriek that makes dogs howl across the city and bats screech in return.

Beneath the awning of this particular building is a child, filthy with dust and screaming for his mother. He's holding the hand of a dirty teddy bear with arms that are too short to keep the bear off the ground. His blond hair is grey with dust, his red jacket that's just a bit too big it ripped on one arm. The rip is from getting caught on a fence when he was trying to run away on legs too short to go faster than a quick walk.

Above him, the aliens leap off the building, flying with limbs outstretched to catch the building across. Their departure is hasty and for good reason: the winking and the beeping of the devices quicken. Finally, the bombs do both for the last time, letting out one long, shrill beep and letting the light blink for just a second too long. The building's face blows with the devices, crumbling down. Just as the awning is about to fall and crush the boy, a streak of yellow zips by and picks up him, teddy bear and all, cradling the sobbing child.

"Hey buddy," Kid Flash says, dodging debris with a grin down at the child, who's stopped crying out of surprise and is hiccupping quietly, staring up at his savior with wide eyes. "I'm Kid Flash," he says. "What's your name? Hold that thought, buddy." Kid Flash drops to a knee, sliding with one leg straight in front of him as he slips under Zatanna's outstretched hands while she casts a spell (he knows firsthand that you _do not _want to get in the way of those things). Kid Flash stands back up and keeps running without pause. "Sorry about that," he says, "Like I was saying, what's your name, little man?"

The boy wipes a hand over his eye and holds onto to the teddy with his other one, "M- Mikey."

"Mikey? Aw, that's a great name, kid," Kid Flash says. "I'm going to give you to this nice police officer up here, okay? She'll bring you to a bunch of other little kids and find your mom and dad, okay?"

"Okay," Mikey says, tiny fist holding onto Kid Flash's suit.

"Awesome," Kid Flash grins down at him, then slides to a stop at the subway entrance, where a police officer is waiting. He hands the child to her. "His name is Mikey, found him on hundredth street." The officer nods and her partner writes the name and street on a notepad while she takes the child and jogs down the steps with him. The boy looks over and waves at Kid Flash, who waves back with a wink before zipping off.

It's mere seconds before he hears screaming again, and unsurprisingly, it's from the very building the bomber aliens just jumped on. Wally's back in seconds, finding that the doors are blocked from a car accidentally knocked there from either an explosion or Zatanna or both. Instead, Wally has to take a running start at the place and grab onto a window, then slip inside onto the second floor. It's a cafe, Kid Flash finds. There's a handful of aliens walking around the second floor's balcony, Wally counts seven, and there's a whole hoard of people on the first floor, clumped together and cowering at the aliens above them.

"Excuse me," Kid Flash says and all eyes are on him, both alien and human. He points to the nearest alien, "How would you feel if I came to your planet and just started blowing shit up?" He glances down at the children below and adds, "Pardon my French?"

The nearest alien charges him, but Kid Flash is gone before it takes a step. He runs around the conveniently circular second floor, doing one lap to grab all their weapons and drop them out the window, then a second to knock them all over. A third is to grab them and gather them all together, and a fourth and final is to tie them up with the long drapes that cover the windows. Once Kid Flash is sure they're all good and knocked out, he goes to the railing.

"I'll be right back," he says, "Get away from the door." The people obey him quickly and Wally hops back out the window. He stands up on the car and waves his arms like a maniac, forgetting about his com all together.

"YO! HEY, ZAT!" He jumps up and down and when she sees him from down the street, he points at the car he's on, still jumping, "WANNA LEND A HAND?!"

She gives him half a second before she holds out a hand and says a spell he can't hear. Wally's well across the street by the time the car goes flying, down the street and conveniently hitting an oncoming caravan of carriages.

Kid Flash bolts to the door and opens it, ushering people out with a chipper tone, "Alright, this way, good job, keep going, down to the subway, mmm Subway I'm kinda hungry, keep moving people and remember, the buddy system is a _great_ system!" Once he's sure all the civilians have left and are safe down the subway, he runs back to the cafe and stuffs a couple biscotti in his mouth.

What? He's got a fast metabolism.

...

Miss Martian shoots faster than a bullet, metaphorically screeching to a halt when she finds a couple straggling carriages. She holds out both hands and claps them together before her, causing the carriages to smash together then plunge to the earth.

Carriages gone, M'gann switches her attention to the aliens that scramble up on the buildings on either side of her. She grabs them by their shoulders and rips them off the building, flying to the middle of the street before dropping them to the far off ground.

She turns to see a mass of carriages flying at her and she returns the favour, spinning in midair to dodge their fire. As she flies, she summons rope from a building nearby that's under construction and she sends one end to tie itself around a lamp post. She holds tight to the other.

The carriages, unable to stop or turn in time to dodge the taut rope, crash into it and each other, then fall to the ground. She doesn't waste a moment is turning around, dropping the rope but leaving it tied to the other post for future use.

"Miss Martian, you've got an ambush straight ahead. Up and over the next intersection will get you clear," Artemis says.

"Thanks, Artemis," M'gann says back, before flying straight to the indicated corner. At the last second, she flies up and over the trap, causing the aliens behind it to get caught in their over device.

Miss Martian finds a double squad of aliens creeping down the street, apparently trying to act in stealth. M'gann floats into their line of vision, sinking down low enough for them to notice but high enough to assert her dominance. Apparently, they don't get the last bit.

The one that must be the leader steps forward and clicks at her in its native tongue, aggressively gesturing its arms and legs. M'gann can understand bits and pieces and what she does understand makes her very angry. The alien threatens to attack Mars once they're done with Earth and slaughter all those on it if she doesn't stop fighting right at the moment. M'gann flies higher and responds in the clicking language.

"What is your reason for war?" The alien responds that there be no reason, only chaos and destruction and death. He repeats his threats and M'gann responds in kind.

"You will not command me. I am a Martian and Martians do not take kindly to threats." The leader demands who she is, and the aura of power from earlier returns, her green halo engulfing her.

"I am M'gann M'orzz, first of my name. I have competed for and am the Champion of Mars, an acknowledgement among the highest titles any Martian can receive," M'gann said, "Would you like to see what the real Champion of Mars can do?"

She holds a hand out without giving them a chance to respond and the buildings on either side crack, chunks fly out, and cars lifts and head straight for them. But that's not what they should be worried about.

The asphalt beneath them suddenly lifts in a large disc, getting ten feet above the ground before tipping them all off. Then M'gann turns it and it goes vertical, causing the oncoming snake machine to slam into it and fall, right onto the first aliens. M'gann drops the asphalt.

Miss Martian looks down to see Rocket weaving between buildings, a dozen more carriages on her tail. M'gann flies after them without a second thought. Her eyes glow.

...

Artemis presses in her com and shouts, "Aqualad, you've got a pack of uglies heading towards you from the East!" She lifts her hand to take out a couple stragglers with two flawless arrows, then jogs to the other side of the roof. A carriage passes and Artemis shoots out the driver, causing both the carriage and gunner to fall to the ground.

Artemis turns and knocks the two aliens behind her with a swift kick to the face each, and lets them both fall off the building. She hears a loud beeping and a carriage flies by, the gunner throwing a bomb-like device onto the roof. Artemis runs and jumps off the roof, sliding onto the one closest to her and ducking her head from the explosion.

Before the dust even settles, Artemis has an arrow notched and released, arrow flying towards the carriage the threw the bomb. The arrow blows on impact and Artemis scans the streets.

"Kid Flash, there's two men carrying a third injured man on sixty second. Zatanna, Nightwing, Aqualad looks like he needs assistance to the West of you. Head down ninety third and you'll corner a pack," she says quickly.

She turns to see an alien launch itself at her, tackling her to the ground. Artemis uses her bow to hold it back, right forearm across the bow, and pulls a knife from her belt. She turns her head away from its snapping face, then stabs it in the forehead, the creature going limp immediately. Artemis shoves it off her and puts the knife away, drawing another arrow. She fires off two more and senses something behind her, turning in time to see Klarion, burned and battered and filthy, standing there with a smile. All in all, his look makes him appear worthy of his title.

"That was a very dirty trick, back on the Helicarrier," Klarion says. Artemis watches him calmly, breathing slightly laboured. "I like dirty tricks." Artemis doesn't like his tone. There's some kind of catch, some kind of trick. She doesn't take her eyes off his staff as she reaches for another arrow.

Her quiver is empty.

Artemis doesn't let it throw her off and simply reaches up with one hand to press the button on her quiver strap that will drop it from her shoulders. It hits the ground with a soft thunk, rolling away from her. Artemis keep a tight grip on her bow.

"You're the one who's playing dirty, Klarion," Artemis says, tongue darting out to lick her dry and cracked lips, "You started it. First you sick Kid Flash on me, then Superboy. I'm guessing you don't like me very much."

"On the contrary, you're my favourite. You've killed the most. And you just don't care."

"I feel every life I've taken, Klarion," when she takes a step back, her heel hits her empty quiver, which rolls away again. "But I'm making up for it. Every life saved is one I've taken."

Klarion smiles, "I don't think so." He opens his mouth, like he has more to say, but he instead thrusts out his scepter and shoots a beam of light at her. Artemis is ready for it.

She drops down, dodging the fire, then gets back up again in a second. Klarion's already upon her and Artemis has to go immediately on the defensive. Artemis swings out to hit him but Klarion gets it first. She takes the blow like a woman, rolling with it and dishing another out as soon as possible.

Klarion has had the upper hand the whole time and both know it. It's no surprise that he knocks her to the ground first. He knocks her in the head with his scepter, not hard enough to knock her out but hard enough to daze her and slow her fight. He grabs her by her hair and drags her to the side of the building. Artemis is able to stand there, if a tiny bit wobbly, and knock him in the teeth with her elbow. She punches him twice more and for a moment, it looks like she's going to win this. Until he uses her own bow against her.

Somehow, he'd gotten hold of it in the scuffle. He throws it over her, trapping her arms against her chest in between the bowstring and handle. He pushes her backwards and Artemis's heels go off the building; she's completely reliant on the hand holding the bow and keeping her from falling. Unfortunately, that hand belongs to Klarion.

"I'm truly very sorry I couldn't keep my promises about your death," Klarion says, "But I think falling all that way will make up for it, don't you agree? Oh come on, now, why don't you just look down?" Artemis doesn't take her eyes from his face. She feels her balance failing her, and she wobbles. "I _said __**look down**_," Klarion demands. Artemis spits in his face instead, quite literally.

In retaliation, Klarion lets go of the bow.

Artemis doesn't want to scream as she falls, doesn't want to give Klarion that satisfaction, but the sounds rips its way up her throat and bashes through her teeth, coming out high pitched and terrified. Her bow comes off during the fall and Artemis closes her eyes. The second she begins to fall she forces herself to think of Wally, of his stupid jokes and his stupid hair and his stupid eyes and his-

Artemis hits something _hard,_ but it's not the ground because it grunts on impact and lifts her up a bit higher. Also, she's not dead.

She doesn't need to open her eyes to know what's happening, to know that she's travelling at what must be the speed of sound, that there's only one person in the world who could made a catch like that.

Artemis reaches shaking fingers to grab his suit and tries to slow down the hammer of her lion heart. "Oh god," she whispers into his neck, breathing ragged.

"No need to call me god, babe. Your handsomeness will work just fine," Wally says, but his voice is shaky. Artemis laughs quietly and it matches his voice in that it quivers.

"You've just saved my life," Artemis says, pressing her forehead to his shoulder, "Don't make me hurt you." Wally's laugh is more genuine this time, if a bit breathless and not from running.

She can tell that Wally is stalling, is running streets unnecessarily to give her time to calm down. Otherwise they'd be with the others right now. Artemis lifts herself up a bit it with a hand on his shoulder and squeezes.

"I'm good," she says, "Let's go kick alien ass." She doesn't need to open her eyes to see his smile; she can hear it in his voice.

"That's my girl," he slide to a stop, right next to where Aqualad and Zatanna are standing together, fighting side by side.

They're surrounded by aliens. The aliens click and screech and hold out their weapons, circling them and threatening them to come closer, to charge first. But the heroes hold their ground. Finally, the aliens charge.

Zatanna sends bursts of blue light that knock over any aliens in her path. Aqualad uses his water bearers as swords and Kid Flash simply zips around, knocking them all over and sending them flying from impact. Kid Flash grabs a gun too and tosses it to Artemis, who figures out how to use it in ten seconds tops, because really, guns are all the same. Point and shoot; just don't shoot yourself and don't press the wrong button.

"What happened to that cat?" Kid Flash asks. "I saw it before but it's disappeared."

Zatanna smiles, "Don't worry about it. I put that on ice." None of them realize just how literally she means it.

"Aqualad, we can't keep this up all day," Artemis says between aliens. She shoots one and when it doubles over, she presses her back to its back and flips over it to fight one on the other side.

"I agree," Kaldur says before pressing in his com. Zatanna covers him while he makes the call, "Rocket, I want you on the roof of Wayne Industries. The shield guarding the device and the tesseract is pure energy. Perhaps you can attempt to manipulate it."

"I'm on it," Rocket's voice calls back. An alien shoots for Zatanna and she only just manages to dodge it. Kaldur, on the other hand, is on the com just a second too long.

An alien smashes into him and knocks him over, spilling all the water from his water packs and his swords, which is immediately absorbed by the dust and dirt on the streets. Kaldur rolls out of the way of a gun that slams into the pavement, right where he was seconds ago.

Aqualad grabs the handle of the gun and wrestles with an alien over it. Kaldur wins the fight but instead of using the gun against him, he snaps it against his knee and throws both pieces away.

Kaldur hates guns.

There's this boisterous sound and both heroes and aliens look to where it's coming from. Conner has just ripped a fire hydrant out of the street and water is shooting high up from the hole where it used to be. He throws the hydrant at an incoming pack then turns to Aqualad. He points to the place the fire hydrant used to be.

"WATER!" He yells. Kaldur smiles.

"Thank you, my friend," he says before his tattoos start to glow.

One of the giant monster machines rounds the corner, turning and twisting in the same horrifying way the first had.

"Holy shit," Artemis says.

"I'm on it," Zatanna says, stepping forward, "Emoceb tsud!" The strength of the spell knocks Zatanna right off her feet. Dust that was once the monster rains down on them, the monster having exploded into itself.

...

Director Prince stands on the Helicarrier, arms crossed and lips pressed together tightly. She's in a black room, one that's surrounded by screens with people who sit just far back enough in the shadows to hide their faces. It's The Council, known by no other name. Prince gets a lot of orders from them and she follows a lot too. But she won't follow this one.

"We have made our decision. Now it is your job to carry out such decision," one threatens. Prince stands tall.

"Well I've decided that it's a stupid ass decision that I've elected to ignore," Prince challenges, "You want me to blow up the entire state of New Jersey with a nuclear bomb. And you want me to kill thousands of innocent people, which I will not do."

"It is not your decision to make. _We _are The Council."

"And since The Council has apparently lost their minds, I am overruling your decision."

"You do not have that authority," one of the councilwomen said angrily.

"So being on a council with a bunch of rich snots gives you the authority to take the lives of innocent people?" Prince says, glaring. "Interesting."

"That's it, Prince. You've overstepped one too many times and now you're not only blatantly defying our orders, but insulting us altogether. We will have to revoke your title as director." Prince raises an eyebrow.

"Alright," she says, turning, "Revoke me all you want. I will not send a nuke at New Jersey."

"No need, Ms. Prince," one of the counselors say. "We've already sent the orders." Prince snaps to look at them, then bolts down the hall. Wayne, who waited for her in the hall, follows after her.

"What's happening?" He says.

"Injustice," Prince says and she bolts to the exit. She grabs a bazooka from beside the exit and runs out onto the deck. Prince spots a plane starting to move down the runway and raises the weapon, shooting the plane's wing. The plane skids, stopping right next to the edge. The pilot hops out and deck crew rushes forward to puts out the flames. Prince lowers the weapon and lets out a breath.

A second plane shoots past and off the Helicarrier before Prince can even load the bazooka again. When she raises it, it's long gone.

"What do we do now, Director?" Wayne asks. Prince looks at him.

"I'm not director anymore. I've been demoted. You're the new director. It's your call."

Wayne clasps his hands behind his back and shuffles somewhat awkwardly on his feet, "All due respect, m'am, but I won't take orders from anyone but you." Prince smiles a little, then goes straight into director-mode.

"We need to notify the Avengers. Warn them of what's coming. We also need to try to get as many people out of the state as we can as a precaution."

...

Rocket soars to Wayne Industries, flying past any and all obstacles in her way. She lands gracefully on the roof and looks at the energy field contemplatively. She makes up her mind in a moment. Raquel bounces from foot to foot before she charges it, kinetic energy field surrounding her as she goes.

Raquel slams into the field and flies up in a large arch, falling off the roof. She doesn't even think about flying before grabbing the com out of her ear and ripping it out, throwing it to the ground. Her ear is raw on the inside and burned from the shock that the ear bud had let out at impact. Warm blood trickles uncomfortably down the side of her head, then her neck.

Raquel finally catches herself and slows to a stop, breathing hard. She reaches up and touches her ear, her fingers coming away smeared red. She doesn't have time for this now, though, and flies back up, wiping her fingers on her pants. Raquel lands gently and eyes the energy field warily. She raises her fists.

Raquel punches out twice, balls of energy flying at the field. She spins on one heel and kicks out. A third ball of energy soars towards the field. Rocket has to duck when all three shoot back at her and she stands, panting, to look at it once again.

...

"Avengers, listen up," Prince's voice breaks through the ear buds, "There is a nuclear bomb on its way to destroy the state. I repeat, _there is a nuclear bomb coming to destroy the city. _Arrival time is in two minutes. Repeat _two minutes _until it blows." The one person who needs to hear it, doesn't, because her com is currently on the street, stained red and sending out sparks.

...

Raquel is panting, leaning a hand on her knee. Her brute force attempts to damage the field have been futile, and she's getting pissed off.

Finally, Raquel notices that there's a man lying on the ground on the opposite side of the beam and carefully circles it to see him properly, turning her head to get a better look. He's sitting up halfway, leaning on his elbows, and he's blinking dazedly. Rocket recognizes him from a picture Prince showed her. He's the man who was kidnapped with Kid Flash, a scientist named Adam Strange.

Rocket kneels next to him, reaching out to touch his shoulder, "Strange? Strange, I need to know, is there any way to turn off the machine?"

Strange looks at her, blinking, "Uh..Yes. I-I wasn't in the right mind. But – but I remember. I put in a – a failsafe. The scepter. It acts like a key."

Rocket nods, then runs to the edge of the platform and looks out at the war zone of Gotham. Her only problem: _Where the hell is the staff?_

...

They all look up in time to see a jet fly over and release something large and white.

"What are we going to do?" Zatanna asks, blowing away some aliens, "I don't have enough power to contain that. None of us do."

"But I know something that does," M'gann says, "Let's teach these monsters a lesson." Miss Martian flies towards it without waiting for a response, going faster than she's ever flown before. She catches the bomb on her shoulders, feeling the impact. She sinks down a few feet before breathing out sharply through her teeth. Then she makes herself fly up, towards the black hole.

...

Raquel, still unaware of the message, has found the staff down on the patio below. She goes to the machine and stands outside it, pointing the scepter towards it. She takes a deep breath before she steps forward and plunges the lit end into the beam of light coming from the machine. When she looks up, she sees the black hole beginning to close.

And M'gann shooting towards it.

...

Miss Martian flies faster than she's ever done before, the exertion of flying and carrying the massive bomb starting to take their toll. But she can't give up.

M'gann forces herself up farther, flying towards the hole that's begun to close itself. She flies straight into space, where hundreds of aliens are just waiting to come in and destroy Earth.

She throws the bomb right at them, dodging gunfire, until finally one catches her in the stomach. M'gann cries out and clutches her stomach, falling back to the Earth through the worm hole just as it closes.

Her head spins from the sudden change in pressure. Her stomach is searing with pain. M'gann's eyes flutter shut.

As she falls between buildings, something slams into her and she changes directions, falling less quickly to the ground. M'gann opens her eye slightly, just a fraction of a centimeter, and finds that she's held with one arm against someone who's wearing a black shirt with a red symbol on the front. M'gann closes her eyes again.

The landing is jolting, but when he puts her down it's done so gently that you'd think she was made of glass. When M'gann opens her eyes, she finds the entirety of the Avengers gathered around her, looking down at her with looks of concern.

Superboy reaches forward with a large hand and carefully brushes hair out of her face.

"Are you well?" Kaldur asks. M'gann looks around her without moving her head.

"I-I'm okay," she says slowly, and the group around her seems to let out a collective breath. "Did-" she clears her throat, "Did we do it?"

"Yep," Rocket says, grinning. "Portal's closed."

"Oh, and uh, don't worry," Kid Flash says. He's leaning with an arm around Artemis' shoulders and is favouring his left ankle. "Nobody kissed you." The group laughs collectively as Conner helps her up. His eyes are no longer red and haven't been since she first opened her eyes.

"Now we have one more thing to do," Nightwing says and they all exchange glances.

...

Klarion stumbles down the street, looking for a way up. His bones ache and his legs quiver. Having a floor drop down on top of you is something that would slow even a Lord of Chaos. His scuffle with Artemis really didn't help. Not only that, but his familiar had taken a battering too, and he felt every moment of it.

All in all, Klarion feels weak.

When he turns the corner and sees the Avengers, they all straighten, going into battle mode. He blinks. How are they still _standing_ let alone _fighting? _He underestimated them, and that annoys him. But there will be another day.

Klarion raises his hands slowly in his surrender just as his legs give out and he falls to his knees.

Zatanna holds out her hand, "Dnib dna gag." A guard that holds his mouth shut attaches itself to his face and his hands are bound together, both materializing out of midair. Klarion falls to his side and feels Aqualad grab his arm and tug him up without mercy. Zatanna creates a chain that they attach to his hands and ankle shackles and a collar around his neck. Aqualad pulls him along like some kind of animal while they continue down the road.

"You know, I'm starving," Kid Flash says as the funny little group hobbles down the street. "Anyone ever had shawarma? I haven't but there's this place just up ahead that has it. It's supposed to be really good." Wally continues to chatter away as they walk down the street, supporting each other and laughing with the occasional comment from someone other than Wally.

Fifteen minutes later finds them in the place Wally had been talking about, each eating large donairs. Except, of course, Klarion, who they'd chained up outside to a light post.

They're a rather strange looking band: they're all completely covered in dust and dirt and scrapes and blood, some red and some neon blue. Aqualad has a napkin on his lap, despite his disarray, and is trying to make as little mess as possible, so as not to cause the poor shopkeepers any more work. (Both of which are in the shop, sweeping debris and ashes.) Wally has his foot up on Artemis' chair, and Dick has a bandage on his wrist, courtesy of Zatanna. Dick, Wally, and Artemis are just going for it, diving into their food without a second thought. Conner has a similar approach, stuffing half of his donair into his mouth at once. He would be winning for having eaten the most out of all of them, but there _is _a speedster in the room. Raquel is ripping off chunks and tossing them in her mouth while M'gann is trying to strategize the most lady-like way to go about it. Zatanna seems to be trying to see exactly how much she can stuff in her mouth without choking.

After a while, everyone starts to exchange their different stories like excited teenagers. Maybe a few add a couple details or explosions here or there but they're still flying high from adrenaline and feel like they could save the world. Which, strictly speaking, they just did.

Wally nudges Artemis with the foot on her chair while Zatanna tells a particularly incredible story about turning a street to ice. Artemis doesn't think she believes it. She tears her eyes from Zatanna to look at Wally, who's leaning forward. When Artemis mimics him, he starts to speak.

"Let's go back. We've always wanted to."

Artemis smiles, "I think we deserve a month or two off." Wally grins.

...

It's hours after what will go down as the Battle of Gotham and Prince is headed to the council room once again. She was summoned twenty minutes ago; she doesn't like being _summoned, _like some dog. Waiting a while won't kill the council. Despite the shadows on The Council's faces, Prince knows that they're not happy with her.

One of the councillors clears her throat, "We have decided to reinstate you as director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Prince raises an eyebrow, "Did you come to the realization that your decision was bullshit?"

"Careful, Director," one says. Prince crosses her arms.

"Now, onto other matters," yet another counsellor says. "Where is Klarion?"

"He's on his way to a more secure stronghold than we could ever dream of on Earth."

"You're letting him off our planet?!" The councilman sounds outraged.

"He has committed crimes here, yes. But he has committed even more crimes that he has to first answer to on other planets. Don't you worry, Earth'll get their shot at him," Prince says.

"Another question that begs for an answer," a councilman says, "Where are the Avengers?"

"I think they've earned time off," Prince responds cryptically.

"Meaning?"

"It means that I don't know," Prince says, "They're split apart. Gone their own ways."

...

They've all agreed to gather the next morning in a relatively undestroyed part of Gotham, all arriving from the hotels or ships or safe houses they stayed in for the night. It's kind of strange, how they all arrive at the same minute, just seconds after each other.

They're still riding high from their victory, and they all feel just as invincible as Conner is.

The square is small and clean, not far from the city hall. But it's out of the way enough for the privacy that the group needs. They're all in civvies, so as not to be identified. Even M'gann's skin is pale.

Dick hands M'gann a sealed container holding the tesseract, which she takes with a smile and a nod. Beside her is Klarion, who is still bound and gagged, though he now also has a blindfold and metal contraptions over his ears to prevent any hearing. Better safe than sorry. Conner holds Teekl, back in its small cat form, in a cage Zatanna created.

They stand in a circle together, talking amongst themselves like they haven't seen each other in years even though it hasn't even been twelve hours yet.

"So what's everyone going to do now?" Raquel asks, crossing her arms.

"I must return to my subjects," Kaldur says, "Though I think I will venture to the surface much more often."

"You'd better," Zatanna says, elbowing him lightly. "I have to get back to my show in a couple weeks but until then, Dick's offered to let me stay at Wayne Tower for free if I help him clean it up a bit."

Wally grins and punches Dick with the hand that isn't in Artemis' back jeans pocket, "You dog." Zatanna laughs while Dick replies.

"Yeah? Where are you two going off to?"

"Paris," Artemis says, leaning against Wally's shoulder.

"We've been wanting for get back for ages," Wally says before he turns his attention to M'gann and Conner, "We all know you're going to Mars, M'gann. What about you, Conner?"

"I'm going with her. To see the sunset." M'gann looks at him and smiles.

"And you, Raquel? Where're you heading off to?" M'gann asks.

"Home to Dakota City. I've got some friends I want to see."

After that, there's a lot of handshaking that turns to hugs and it's not all started by M'gann or Zatanna. Then they all depart, going their separate ways. It's a bittersweet ending; bitter because no one wants to leave, sweet because they all know they'll have a reason to meet up again. The latter of which is all bittersweet in itself.

"After you, mi'lady," Dick bows exaggeratedly while holding the door of his convertible open for Zatanna while she laughs.

Kaldur turns to walk towards the shore, moving slowly with his hands clasped as he reflects the events of the past few days.

"Now, off to lei vile lumelle!" Wally says, throwing his hands out as he butchers the French words.

"Don't you mean la ville lumière?" Artemis corrects, her own French flawless.

Wally grabs her hand and bumps into her side, "I love when you talk French to me."

"Ah bon? J'adore quand tu essaies parler français, et ne parviennent pas. Tu es un crétin, mais tu es mon crétin."

"You just insulted me, didn't you?"

"Bien sûr."

Wally kisses the top of her head before letting her go so he could walk around the car to the passenger seat. "I love you anyways," he says.

"Je t'aime aussi, mon cher," Artemis responds with a smile before she climbs into the driver's seat.

Raquel swings a leg over her motorcycle, and slips her helmet on. She revs the engine, then takes off down the streets with a smile.

M'gann turns to Conner, "Ready?" Conner smiles a little, nothing more than a quirk of his lips, and he nods. Conner places a hand on her shoulder and the Bioship lifts them and Klarion up.

...

"And what if we need them again? What if Earth needs its Avengers?" A councilwoman demands as Prince leaves, intent on leaving the arguing council to work their fight out themselves.

Prince looks over her shoulder to reply, "The Avengers will know, and they'll answer our call."

* * *

**Cue INTENSE instrumental.**

**Translations: **

**"Ah bon? J'adore quand tu essaies parler français, et ne parviennent pas. Tu es un crétin, mais tu es mon crétin." : Oh really? I love when you try to speak French, and fail. You're an idiot, but you're my idiot.**

**"Bien sûr.": Of course.**

**"Je t'aime aussi, mon cher.": I love you too, my dear.**

**(I did this from my own _limited_ knowledge of French so I hope it's right?)**

**My favourite line? "_"What's going on?" "Injustice."_" I just. The cheese is overwhelming it's fantastic. I cringe every single time. (I'm so sorry.) ****Hope you guys enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please review/ favourite/ whatever. Creative criticism is much appreciated!**


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